Demon And Wolves
by williamlim3
Summary: What if Noble Six was saved from his death by the Pillar of Autumn, and then became Master Chief's Partner-in-Crime? One, a lone wolf by choice, one a lone wolf by fate. AU. First Fanfic so i apologize in advance.
1. Prologue

As Noble Six desperately clawed against the last Elites that pinned him to the ground, His short life flashed before his eyes. His augmentation, his missions and his time with Noble team, all this and more went through his mind as the crowd of Elites rushed his position.

He had entered every mission as if it were his last, and this time his luck had run out. This time however, a roll from the galatic dice had changed his fate, even if he didn't know it yet. An Elite's Roar, a blinding light, and human voices were all the Six heard before he passed out from his wounds. He was going to be part of a much bigger battle, whether he liked it or not.


	2. There and Back Again

Noble Six POV

Pillar of Autumn Medical Bay

**XXxXxXxXxXxX**

Pain. That's all I felt, and it was good to know as it reminded me that I was still alive. I don't know how I survived, when the last thing I saw was an elite with his energy dagger bearing upon me, but complaining that I made it wasn't on my mind. My armor was lying next to me, looking brand new. Wait what? My armor was akin to destroyed on the field, how the hell did it get repaired so quickly? As the shock of my survival wore off, I began to take in my surroundings. I was in a medical bay, an empty one, and it looked all too small and compact for me to still be on Reach. I had to be on a ship. I got up quickly, and pain lanced up my side.

"Slow down son, you are still healing."

I turned and immediately saluted to the hero of Sigma Octanus. Captain Keyes looked much younger than the press made him out to be, probably around his early 40's. The "Keyes loop" had circulated around the UNSC like wildfire, and here I was standing in front of the man who was the subject of it.

"Sir!"

"At ease soldier. I am sure you must be confused as to where you are and why you ended up here. Do you want the short or long version?"

** "**Short. Sir."

"A man of action I take it. Well, here it is then. I couldn't leave another man behind for the damn Covenant to slaughter, so I came back and found you. Wasn't hard, as Cortana hacked into the Covie battlenet, and half of it was chatter about a lone 'Demon' who managed to slaughter around half of the invading forces on reach. We picked you up, took off your armor and started repairs on it, and it's been a day since we got you."

"What happened to Reach sir?"

Keyes paused at the question, as if wary of my reaction. He only paused for a fraction of a second, but nothing escapes a Spartan. He quietly whispered

"It's all gone son, we lost it."

Noble Six POV

Pillar of Autumn Command Center

**XXxXxXxXxXxX**

Keyes invited me into the command center so I could have a look at where we ended up. During the long walk there, I was filled in on my injuries: Cracked ribs, and some internal bleeding. Nothing a Spartan couldn't handle, but it would take me a day to get back to a 100 percent again. I was also filled in on the situation. So Master Chief was on the ship huh? The man was a living legend to the Spartan 3's, as a leader, and a fearless combatant. I was hoping to meet him in person, and if I had a chance to fight with him. From my position on the bridge, I saw nothing but empty space. A Slipspace transition always had at least a day of leeway to wait, so I had enough time to recover. I spent the time taking a tour of the ship, and getting up to speed with my situation. We lost reach, and we narrowly evaded the Covenant, hopefully where we ended up was far away from them.

**XXxXxXxXxX**

It had been a day and a half since I was saved by Keyes and taken aboard the Pillar of Autumn, and we were now able to transition back into normal space. I took a position in the corner, where I would not bother anyone but I still could get a view of the bridge. The crew all shared a look at me, and quickly turned away. While a Spartan 3 and not nearly as large or threatening, I still was larger than the average human, standing at around 7 foot 3 without armor, and now 8 foot 4 with it. My helmet, an Operator variant lay next to me on a table. The helmet luckily protected me from a plasma bolt that would have killed me, and the navy techs had managed to repair it best they could. Now, my armor was back to a 100 percent, and I was ready to face anything.

Keyes walked into the bridge, and I took the initiative.

"Officer on deck!"

The crew stood up and smartly saluted. Keyes let slip a small smile as he walked over to the command chair. The friendly tone that he had taken with me was replaced by a more business, more fitting to a captain like commanding voice.

"Men and women, get ready to transition back to normal space. Be ready for anything. Lovell, Hall, systems check."

A man with a young face, slick red hair a tad against the regulation hairline nodded along with a woman who was slightly younger than the man, with a neat blonde haircut. They both checked their respective systems, then yelled

"All systems ready sir!"

"Very well, Transition in 5 seconds."

"5…4…3…2…1… Transitioning now."

A bubble of UV rays slammed through the hull and various groans were heard as the battle-hardened ship tore a hole in Slipspace and went through it. Damn, first thing in our sights are the Covenants cruisers. Why are they everywhere now? Where aren't they? Keyes immediately barked orders and the Pillar of Autumn shot around the gas giant Threshold. As we passed around the giant, something big came into view.

It was a massive object floating close to Threshold and its moon, Basis. It looked like a giant ring, and it was gargantuan, making us feel like a speck of dirt on a tennis field. The bridge was silent for a second, and all we could hear was the silent hum of the engine. Suddenly a voice interrupted the silence, Cortana's.

" I hate to interrupt the silence, but our slingshot orbit will be completed soon, and we will slip right into the range of the covenant cruisers."

Keyes pulled out his pipe and chewed on it, a slight frown on his face as his mind went over all the options in his head.

" All hands on deck, Lovell I want navigation coordinates transferred to my terminal, men and women, this is going to be a bumpy ride. Spartan, I need your eyes. Watch the screens, and tell me where they are."

"Sir!"

I made my way to the screens and watched intently as we slowly moved within viewing range of the carrier. With the MAC cannon fried during the battle for reach, we were sitting ducks. However the Covenant didn't know that, and my guess was Keyes was intending to keep it that way. We moved sideways, approaching the giant ring. Keyes yelled more orders to the crew and Cortana, and suddenly we were given a picture of the ring. An oxygen nitrogen atmosphere, flora and fauna on an artificial ring, it seemed too good to be true. There was no time for speculation, as boarding cruisers courtesy of the carrier were approaching fast. It appeared as though instead of annihilating us, they wanted to capture us. Keyes then made a quick decision

"Cortana, unseal the husked casket. Spartan I'm going to need you to get down to Cryo two. We're waking up a very special guest from his sleep, and you are going to be his escort."


	3. Awakening

A/N: Warning to all you people beforehand, I am going to send both Spartans on missions together, and they probably will talk. Quick question after you finish, what do you think of their personalities? Should they stay stoic and quiet or should they gradually change into more friends as the story moves on?

Noble Six POV

Cryo Two

**XXxXxXxXxX**

The last of the Spartan II's stood in front of me, his green armor gleaming in the low light. As a fellow Spartan, I could read emotions behind the faceplate and by his movements; I could tell that he walked with a quiet mourning gait. He lost most of his fellow brothers and sisters during the battle of Reach, but nobody else could tell if they saw him. He was a man who could control his emotions. Like any Spartan, he also had liquid-like fluid precision and grace. After he finished his tests, I walked over to him. He looked at me, as if trying to intimidate me, but I stood unfazed.

In the middle of our 'size up', one of the technicians approached me. "I hate to interrupt sir, but the Master Chief needs to complete his shield and movement tests." The rest of the tests went by without incident, and finally he was done. I walked over towards the Chief, and I sent him my orders through my Comms system. He nodded, and we both began to move. We were both men of few words, so we both understood the unspoken words said between us. Before we managed to get out of the hangar, a giant explosion rocked the hangar bay, Covenant pouring into the cryo bay. The explosion killed one of the techs immediately, and another managed to snag a photo of his loved ones before he too was killed.

We both did the most logical things to do for two men with no weapons, hauled ass out of there. We found ourselves in a bright corridor. A couple of crewmen were doing their best to fight off the borders. The crewmen managed to the force the covenant into a corner, and then sealed the blast doors. One of the crewmen, a stocky muscular built man wiped his face and sighed. "That was too damn close. Area is secure Master Chief, best you get to the bridge quickly. Noble Six should know the way, he can escort you."

The Chief looked at me, as if confirming that Noble Six was my call sign. I gave a very slight nod, and then beckoned him away from the hallway. It led us to a narrow hallway, with another large area in front of it. I quickly moved, and came face to face with an Elite. Its mandibles split apart as it bellowed a roar and began to open fire. The shots pelted my shields and I took a couple steps back. Suddenly assault rifle rounds pinged of the Elites shields, and it ran as two marines ran into the hallway Master Chief and me were in, shouting. "Chief, Cortana says get to the bridge on the double! We got you covered!"

We continued moving further into the ship and closer to the bridge; we could hear Cortana over the shipboard COM system warning marines of the impending borders, and what areas were currently under attack. From the tone of her voice I could tell that we were losing the ship. Regardless, we had to get to the bridge. After moving through what had to be the fifth hallway, we ran into a marine with a peculiar accent. "Private First Class Chips Dubbo sir! Captain Keyes needs you on the bridge, ASAP! You better follow me."

The Australian marine went through a room full of the dead and wounded. The Chief stopped to close the eyes of a dead marine. Yet more lives taken in this war. Beyond the room, a hail of gunfire and plasma flew around the room as the Covenant and marines fought for every single nook and cranny of the ship. A minor class Elite, flanked by a platoon of grunts, stood in the middle of the hallway exchanging fire with three marines. One grenade, followed by a cacophony of assault rifle fire was sufficient to finish them off. The blast doors closed, and Dubbo beckoned us onto the bridge.

We finally made it onto the bridge, and Captain Keyes turned to greet us, I stood apart and let the Chief and Keyes get re-acquainted. After they shook hands, Cortana appeared and apprised them what was going on as I stood in the background. I looked around at the data reports, and whistled. Cortana was able to take down four cruisers by her lonesome, which was impressive. Before I could continue reading a powerful blast rocked the bridge, causing all of us to stumble; Keyes grabbed a pedestal for support he then beckoned me over, now was the time we were to be briefed for our mission. Cortana's avatar disappeared as Keyes pulled the chip from the port. He turned to Master Chief again and handed him Cortana "Get Cortana off this ship. Keep her safe from the enemy. If they capture her, they'll learn everything. Force deployment, weapons research…Earth."

"I understand." The Master Chief replied

Keyes then turned to look at me. "Noble Six, I need you to assist Master Chief to get to a lifeboat. For now, you are under his command you will follow his orders, understood?"

"Yes sir!"

Chief slid the chip containing Cortana into a slot on the back of his head, as Keyes pulled a pistol from his belt and handed it to the Chief."I don't keep it loaded, son. You'll have to find ammo as you go. Six you're going to have to scavenge. Good luck men." We proceeded to head out of the bridge, into the mess hall. A large battle was fought here, with the colors of red and alien purple blood coloring the hall. Bodies lay around, unfortunately the majority wearing the battle dress uniform of the marines.

"Get some weapons and ammo Six, these guys won't need it."I closed the eyes of a dead Ensign, and appropriated her assault rifle and grenades. 30 seconds later we were fully equipped and ready. In the second mess hall a group of marines were in a firefight with the Covenant. Without hesitation we engaged them. I opened fire on two grunts which went down immediately as the armor piercing rounds went through them. Master Chief used his magnum on the Elite, the marines giving him suppressing fire. The Elite roared as his shields flared and dissipated, in a final act of defiance it charged the Chief who put him out of his misery with a magnum round to the head. The marines finished off the rest of the grunts, and gave their thanks. Another large explosion hit the ship causing one of the marines to fall to his feet. I picked him up as his buddy laughed at him.

We kept moving farther in, and soon we came across two marines guarding an airlock. Within two steps the airlock exploded, killing the two marines and letting a mass of Covenant pour in. A frag grenade was tossed into the fray which detonated and killed two grunts and stripped the Elite of his shields. I took out my pistol and downed him with a headshot. As we walked past the airlock we saw the inside of the Covenant Boarding ship. Crafty aliens used our lifeboat airlocks to get in. We moved past the airlock, and into a large hallway, probably the crew quarters, as a bunch of marines in casual dress were in behind barriers, exchanging fire with a Major Elite. You could tell the difference in rank from color, and their fighting style, a blue would fight like an aggressive rookie, a red would fight more experienced, so on and so on. One marine waved to us, and we went over to his position.

"Covenant has us pinned down Sir, we could use a hand!" He shouted to me as he unleashed a barrage of gunfire at the Covenant invaders. The Chief pulled me down, and made a series of quick motions with his hand. What he meant was: _In three seconds, pull a frag and open fire. _He counted down, and I popped the pin, and tossed the grenade over my shoulder. I then popped out of cover and began firing. Chief had vaulted over the cover, and proceeded to fill the Covenant with hot metal slugs. With short bursts of fire, we managed to put the rest of them down. We continued to a two-floor room with ledges showing the upper level and it was filled with Covenant. Cortana must have warned chief, as he dove straight into cover. I grabbed a plasma grenade from the floor and chucked it at the Elite at the top of the stairs. The grenade adhered to his skin, and he managed one final cry as the grenade exploded, taking him and two grunts with the explosion. The remaining two Elites hosed me with their plasma rifle, and my shields dropped to half. I took cover as Master Chief shifted from cover and squeezed the trigger of the Assault Rifle down. He took the shields out from an Elite, switched to his pistol, and the slugs from his magnum punctured the Elites skull, killing him instantly. He slumped to the ground as the other Elite roared in anger and charged down the stairs. Chief dove back as the elite swung his plasma rifle in a wide arc. But before he could raise his plasma rifle for a shot, I had snuck behind him. I pulled out my combat knife, and jumped on the aliens back. It tried to through me off but I managed to slit the Elite's throat. He toppled to the ground and the chief looked at me as we both shared a nod between each other. We made our way up the stairs and onto the platform above. As we arrived, a lifeboat took off and plasma lasers blasted around it, barely missing it. It would do some good to get out of here quicker.

Finally, after maneuvering through a service hatch and some ladders, we found the last lifeboat. A huge explosion, larger than the previous ones, rocked the ship again, and a marine was thrown to the ground. Chief picked him up and tossed him into the lifeboat, and I followed into the lifeboat. Chief calmly walked to the pilot, and told her: "Punch it." A lurch knocked us out of balance as the lifeboat disengaged from the Pillar of Autumn. We slowly tore away from the ship as we accelerated towards the ring. We watched as the Autumn took torpedo after torpedo, and finally as it moved towards the ring, I realized that Keyes was going to land the ship on the ring. Figures, there was only one way he could go, down. The rest of the trip was silent as we plummeted toward the ring. Finally, half way down, I turned to the chief. "Noble Six." I held out my hand for a handshake

"Master Chief." He said as we shook hands.


	4. Hard Landing

**Demons and Wolves**

**(A/N: Thanks to Master DV for editing this, i make too many mistakes its not even funny. Anyways Enjoy!)**

**Chapter 4: A Hard landing**

As we moved towards the ring; Chief turned to me again, but this time instead of him talking to me the clear voice of Cortana blared into my helmet speakers."Huh, so this is the first time we meet face to face, well- technically speaking. I never got to thank you for getting me off Reach." The A.I. said.

"Just following orders Ma'am."

"You sound just like him-Chief, I mean. Anyways let me update you on the information of the ring. It has a breathable atmosphere, artificial gravity, and in fact, it has all the markings of a lush world full of life, except for the fact that it is well, artificial." She said frankly.

"All right then, thanks for the update." Noble Six curtly replied.

The conversation lulled for a minute before Cortana spoke up again. "Well anyways, when we are on the ring, I am going to help provide information to both of you, It's gonna give us more of a fighting chance on the ring."

I decided to forego replying, giving a short nod and turning to the cockpit. Chief seemed to have the same thoughts as me. We both stared at the ring as it grew progressively bigger. Now seemed like it was a good time to think for a bit, who knows when the next time we would get any rest from our campaign across this alien ring-world.

I thought I was going to die on Reach, but thanks to Keyes, I had somehow made it out of there alive. How many Spartans were left? Noble team was gone, and from the reports I heard all the Spartan-II's were taken out on Reach as well. I don't even know what happened to the rest of the S-III's. All I know is that I'm still here, and they aren't. The best I can possibly do is just to honor their memories. For now though, it would do well just to focus; I was part of a new team now, one with a legendary warrior and his A.I. companion. To say we were lethal would be an understatement. I had fought with noble for a while, so I guess it wouldn't be anything unusual.

We had been falling for at least 5 minutes, and I could see the trees and structures populating the ring. My best guess was we were going to set up camp there, and hold out. My thoughts however, were rudely interrupted by a sudden jolt coming from the back of the lifeboat.

"I'm losing her!" The Pilot yelled as we suddenly made a massive dip to the point in which we were almost perpendicular to the ground. I grabbed a handle and Chief did the same, as we plummeted in a downward arc. Suddenly there was an earth-shaking crash and everything went black.

XXxXxXxXxX

"You both look really cute together, you know that?" An amused voice that cut through the fog that clouded my mind said. I shook my head to clear out the dizziness out of my vision. We had crashed onto the surface of the ring. Chief and I were stuck together in a slightly awkward position. We looked at each other and I calmly rolled off of the Chiefs back. We both got up and brushed the dirt off of our armor; as good as it did to remove the grime collected from past battles. I looked around the interior of the escape-pod; I walked over to one of the slumped marines and checked for a pulse. Nothing, the man was dead. I looked over to the Chief who had checked the pilot; he shook his head in a negative gesture. Damn it; we were the only survivors of the crash; I bowed my head for a second in silent mourning.

Walking out of the crashed lifeboat I took surveyed the area around us. It was sunny, and it looked to be early in the morning by the sun's position in the sky. You could see structures of the ring on the horizon, curving upwards like a monolith. It was an interesting sight to say the least. The lifeboat was still smoking and bodies littered around the crash site. The Chief turned to me. "Stock up on ammo Six, we don't know how long we will be without any resupply." He said in his gruff voice.

I nodded as we began to scavenge the bodies and lifeboats for any ammo or supplies left. I was checking the body of a marine when suddenly Cortana's clear voice sounded in my speakers," Covenant dropship in the vicinity, you two best find some cover." She said in a concerned voice. I pulled out a M392 DMR from the lifeboat along with a pistol. The Chief grabbed an MA5B assault rifle and another pistol. I spotted a platform of rocks, littered with trees nearby. It would provide us with good cover from enemy fire. I signaled to Chief the position I saw and we made a run for it. Crossing the distance in a matter of seconds we hunkered down against the rocks, patiently waiting for the drop-ship to arrive.

Less than a minute later, a dropship arrived; the marines had taken to calling it a Spirit. The tuning fork-like dropship circled around for several seconds before descending. I looked towards the Chief, who nodded back at me. We immediately rose from cover, firing in unison. The grunts, which dropped first, stood no chance against the powerful rounds that pierced their fleshy bodies and killed them. The Elite barked a guttural war cry, and threw himself behind several rocks, protecting him from fire. Chief grabbed a grenade from his belt and lobbed one behind its cover in a perfect toss. The Elite warbled a surprised cry, as the grenade plinked in front of it. In an explosion of red, oranges, and purple, it turned it and several grunts into confetti.

I rolled out from cover, firing my DMR as I strafed. Popping two grunts in the head, the Chief pulled out his pistol and put down the last of them. We were about to take a quick breather when suddenly a large screech burst overhead. Plasma fire rained on our shields as the Banshee cut through the air; turning around for another salvo. We both returned fire at the aircraft, spraying what was left in our clips. The armor piercing capabilities of the assault rifle shone through as the bullets killed the pilot sending the banshee sailing over a cliff and out of sight. An explosion sounded off signifying its death.

A waypoint popped up on our HUD (Heads Up Display). " I'm reading a lifeboat beacon over the next hill. We should look to see if there are any survivors." She explained. We made our way across the tiny canyon meeting minor resistance in the form of some scouts. We made quick work of them with a few rounds of our pistols and continued on our way. Coming up to a structure we saw a couple of marines who had set up a sort of rally-point in the large two-leveled structure. A private approached us, the name Bisenti, along with his rank, showed up on our HUD.

"Good to see you, Sir's! Welcome to the party! Come on I'll take you to our CO." I smirked under my helmet in admiration of the young marines' personality. Kid didn't let the situation get to him and was able to keep his spirit up. "When the rest of the world is going to hell, an optimistic personality goes a long way." Is what Jorge had said to me once? Damn, how I missed the Spartan II sometimes. Following the private we met up with his CO. Sergeant Johnson was on top of the second story floor looking down at us, his eyes in a rifles scope surveying the horizon for enemy movement. From the first look you could tell that he was a no nonsense kind of guy but then he put down the rifle and placed a cigar in his mouth his rifle, a BR55 battle rifle at his side. He smiled and walked down the ramp to us. "Good to see you're still among the living Master Chief but you're gonna have to introduce me to your new best friend." Johnson said while giving me a pointed look. He seemed surprised that they had another Spartan with them, huh; he must have not heard the news.

The Chief had an amused tone as he replied." Noble Six is under my command for now; he's a good shot. What's the situation sergeant?" He asked in his gruff voice. It seemed like they had a history together, seeing as all the marines here were fresh from the battle of Reach I would wager a guess that they had probably met on the battlefield. They moved off to one side and talked for a while about the current whereabouts of the Captain and the officers and how the rest of the marines who were scattered around the valley. This continued on until a young marine voiced cried out warning us.

"Heads up! We've got a Covenant drop ship coming in over here!" We checked our clips and double timed over to stop the advance. In the sky was another purple aircraft. A Phantom slowly descended onto the grassy plain, plasma spitting out of its front-bow turret. A squad of grunts hefting plasma pistols dropped down, with a red armored elite following soon after. I chucked a fragmentation grenade over to their position; unfortunately they managed to dive before the grenade exploded. Ramming behind rocks for cover before we could open fire, we quickly did the same.

Using the DMR, I took out the Elite's shields with a couple of well-placed headshots. He roared and went back into cover, and I could hear his cries of anger in his alien tongue. I was sure he had cursed at me. I reloaded, grinning in anticipation of what was about to happen. The Chief had silently moved around, flanking the group. The covering fire from the marines on the structure helped kept them from peeking their heads out and spotting him. The moment the Elite finished cursing me to whatever their equivalent of hell was, the Chief hopped on his back and snapped his neck. As the Elite collapsed to the ground the Grunts became fearful, and started running around in a panic, from there it was easy to deal with them. Slamming a fresh clip into my pistol, I put the rest of them down.

Two more drop-ships had arrived while we had dealt with the first deployment and soon the structure became a battleground for the conflict between the alien troopers and the Human survivors. After a few minutes of heated battle the marines had managed to kill the last of the enemy invaders. Fortunately all the marines had managed to survive the encounter; all that was left to do was bandage our wounds and wait, hoping for the lifeboat beacon to lead to our rescue.

A transmission suddenly blared into our headsets." This is pelican Echo 419. Does anybody read me? I repeat: any UNSC personnel respond."

Johnson picked up the horn for a quick reply."We read you Echo 419, this is Fire Team Charlie. Is that you Foehammer? "

"Roger that Fire Team Charlie. Good to hear from ya!" The pilots' happy reply was heard through the Comms. It seemed that she was relieved to find some survivors.

Johnson gave a toothy grin. "If you're not too busy, Foehammer, we could use a lift. We have survivors to transport and we have to find out where the rest of the men are."

"I'm on my way." Was her reply.

Chief and I stood at rapt attention, weapons scanning the sky to check for any banshee's or more drop-ships incoming; luckily there was none. Soon the Pelican, presumably driven by Foehammer, came into view with a warthog attached to its underside.

As the transport ship slowly descended over a clear patch of land I suddenly heard Mendoza yell out. "Up high! Lifeboats at 12 o'clock!" We raised our heads as the lifeboats fell downward like a shooting star crashing into valleys nearby.

"They're coming in fast. When those lifeboats make it down the Covenant are going to be all over them. Foehammer, we need you to disengage your Warthog. Chief, Six and I are going to see if we can save them." Cortana spoke out to the pilot over the comm.

There was a large thump as the pelican sank down to our level and dropped its Warthog onto the ground." I'm going to stay on station for any survivors you're going to need pick up for." Foehammer told us as the marines all filed into the ship and she flew away. Chief walked over to the 'Hog, hopped into the driver seat. Seeing that he had the wheel, I hopped into the chain-gunner position. Cortana's' cool voice came into both our heads. "All right boys, ready for a road trip?"

Chief kicked the warthog into gear, and the dirt flew as the 'Hog sped towards the navigation point that had Cortana set. It led to a cave that would take us to the first lifeboat.

As we drove closer to the opening, I noticed that it wasn't really a cave, and that it looked more like some sort of underground structure. Cortana had the same thought as she voiced it to us as we moved in closer." This cave is not a natural formation."

"Tell me something I don't know." I replied back. Cortana gave a huff of indignation and I could've sworn I heard Chief chuckled a little.

XXxXxXxXxX

After navigating the crisscrossing tunnels, we entered a large cavern, a large trench dividing the floor with no visible way to cross it. Covenant soldiers were everywhere and had the position heavily fortified. Chief floored the pedal and brought the hog screaming into the fray. He mowed down some unlucky grunts before he hopped off. I stayed on the gun and gave him some supporting fire. They stood no chance against the high caliber rounds the turret spat at them, tearing apart anything not smart enough to take cover. The Chief flanked behind and shot them with his pistol. With their cover compromised they had a choice of fighting the super soldier or taking their chances of moving to a better position while under machine gun fire.

To them the choice was obvious; they jumped out of cover and ran for their lives. It made them easy pickings as I tore them apart with the turret. After they all had been killed I dismounted the gun and looked around for a way to cross. "There must be some mechanism to cross this cavern. Look for a control panel or switch." Cortana's voice told us.

Chief motioned for me to take the right side, while he moved to the left. I slung the DMR over my back as I quietly walked along the cavern, my footsteps echoing against the metal surface. I walked forward until I noticed a break in the wall, leading to an ascending hallway. "Chief, I found something" I said into our comm. channel. At the end of the hallway was a panel, which seemed to be some sort of hologram. Chief had taken over and I let him examine it. As he moved his hand towards the panel I expected it to pass right through the display. His hand touched the panel and caused it to react by activating a bridge. It looked as if it was made of light; it formed right in front of our very eyes.

"From what I can tell," Cortanas' voice sounded through our head speakers. "That bridge is made from some kind of hard light. It should be safe to cross over with." Chief and I shared a look at each other and shrugged, we walked back down the hallway, back to the Warthog. It was quite dangerous to move onto a bridge seemingly made of light so Chief drove as quick as possible and before we knew it, we were on solid earth again.

At the other side of the cavern an opening led out to a large canyon. Cortana set up three waypoints, signifying where the three crashed lifeboats should be. We drove to the closest of the three. It wasn't long before we heard bullets and plasma fire being exchanged, and when we turned the corner and we saw a rock slide where the lifeboat had landed. Some marine's were exchanging fire with the Covenant but it looked like they wouldn't last any longer if they didn't receive help soon. Chief gunned it to drive right between the survivors and the Covenant. We both took a couple of hits that drained some of our shields but before they could fire again I squeezed down the trigger and lit them up with 75mm rounds. Needless to say they didn't live long enough to even readjust their aim. With the current threat eradicated we both hopped off to speak with one of the marine's. "Am I glad to see you two. What's the current situation sir?" the marine hefting an SRS99C-S2 sniper rifle asked as we walked over to his position.

I took the initiative to reply. "There are several life boats scattered around this valley. The Chief and me are riding around rounding up survivors. We need to clear this LZ so evac can pick you up." The marine nodded, pulled the catch on his sniper rifle and turned to face the enemy.

"Fall back, fall back!" Someone yelled. I peered over the edge to see who was issuing the order and I saw several other marines running away as an Elite rushed into the rocks. The sniper covered the Marines with a couple of shots; he managed to blow the head off the Elite who was chasing them down. The Marines then took cover in their new position and the sniper filled them in on the current status of rescue. The news of evac seemed to invigorate them and a fire must have burned within them as their efforts increased ten-fold. They fought even harder to kill the xenophobic bastards preventing them from getting off this god-forsaken rock.

"Provide some suppressive fire!" A sergeant yelled. We, the Chief and I, moved towards the rocks trying to push back the Covenant and drive them off. The sniper lagged back sniping off any Grunt or Elite stupid enough to poke their heads out of cover. I dove from cover and opened fire on an Elite who was pressing on our right side. The rounds punctured his helmet killing him instantly. The Chief then used his assault rifle to put a Jackal out of his misery with a burst of fire. The radar pinged a warning and I turned to notice a grunt hefting a lit plasma grenade rushing at me. Moving at ludicrous speeds, I dove backwards to avoid it. The sniper thankfully saw it and put a round through its head. The grunt fell to the ground and the grenade detonated, spreading a blue mist around its body in a flash of burning hot plasma.

The Marines used a combination of Assault rifle fire and grenades to put down the rest of the stragglers. "We're not done yet; I see two Covenant drop ships coming in hot!" The sniper shouted to us from his position higher up on the rocks, his scope looking into the sky. Deciding against wasting ammo, I waited for the ship to come to a stop and drop off its cargo. I lobbed a frag grenade into the drop zone. The resulting explosion turned the group of Grunts into bloody ribbons. Other marines had the same idea and followed suit with the other squads of aliens. A series of explosions made sure that those Covie bastards thought twice before setting down any more troops near a group of marines. Finally, it seemed like we had a breather. Cortana activated a beacon and soon enough Foehammer's voice blared into our headsets.

"Echo 419 to Cortana, please acknowledge. "

"We read you, Echo 419. We have survivors and need immediate dust off." She replied back.

"Roger, Cortana, I'm on the way. I've spotted additional lifeboats near your position, one near a cliff, another near the head of the river. Hard to see, but I think there are some more survivors."

"Acknowledged, I'm on the way." Echo 419 slowly descended, and I caught a glimpse of Foehammer. She was wearing the standard fatigues that the pilots wore when off duty. It seemed that she had to make a quick escape from the Autumn when the Covenant had boarded. It was a good thing she did because we would have been toast if we didn't have some form of air-support to help us out. Noticing my look she waved at me, I waved back. With the marines loaded up she flew away to take them to whatever place we had decided to use as a rally point. I walked back to the warthog and manned the gun again. Chief once again got behind the wheel.

"We still have two lifeboats to get too boys, let's move out." Cortana said.

The riverhead was nearest so we headed there. Water splashed as we drove right into the stream. We continued to move to our next objective scanning the nearby area for any survivors or enemy scouts. We could hear the sounds of gunfire coming from nearby hills. Cortana set a waypoint and gave us some information. "There are some marines hiding in the hills above the structure." She pointed out. Chief drove the warthog up the hill, and we came onto a plateau like area with a monolith and futuristic structure nearby.

One of the marines looking around warily; he then noticed us and waved us over. Exiting the vehicle we walked over to him. "We could use your help in clearing out the structure; looks like this might be a good place for an LZ." We nodded and surveyed the structure. The marines picked a good one, with good cover, and several stories making it available for a fallback point.

I noticed one of the marines carried a flamethrower, and it seemed like he had difficulty holding it. He must have noticed me looking at him, he shrugged and said." I'm just carrying it in case we need it later on."

"Here, give it here." I held out my hand towards him.

The marine hobbled over and dropped the weapon at my feet. I'd always wondered why they made flamethrowers so heavy to the point in which only a Spartan could carry it without much difficulty. I hefted it up towards my waist with a grunt; even for me it seemed somewhat heavy to carry. Instead of using the weapon, I opened up the fuel lodge and took out the gas canister. I dropped it at the bottom of the structure intending to use it as an impromptu explosive tank. In case things got hot. I looked up and saw the Chief motioned me for me get to the top of the structure, and I hopped up quickly.

"All right boys I'm picking up several large heat signatures coming up from the south, I recommend forming up and hunkering down, there's ample cover and ammo in case." Cortana informed us.

"You heard the lady; Mendoza! Man the left side, Chief and Six will assist with some covering fire. Everyone else, form up on me." A sergeant yelled his orders. I checked my ammo counter, it read full. The Chief did the same. I strode over to the left, my footfalls making small clanks on the metallic ground. Chief followed behind me, his light footfalls making it seem as though there were a young child behind me, not a giant super-soldier.

I scanned our position, two barricades angled to deflect aircraft fire, the position laid on top of a small crest. It helped as we could focus fire downwards. A large shade turret stood nearby it was probably captured from the previous occupiers of this place. Behind us was the building, as long as the marines could hold this position, we would be fine. Chief motioned me to one barricade, he moved to the other, and Mendoza hopped on the turret.

Less than a minute after we got into our positions, the familiar whine of a Covenant dropship filled the air. Like a vulture circling its prey; it slowly looped around our position, hosing us down with plasma fire. Thankfully the barricades held and we waited as the dropship slowly sunk down to drop its load. The dropship landed on the bottom of a hill and ejected its cargo: two Elites, one hefting a sword, the other a carbine; a half dozen grunts, hefting an assortment of plasma pistols, cannons, or needlers, and finally two jackal's their shields glowing crimson as they dropped down.

They wasted no time in putting up a barrage of bolts and plasma. Mendoza opened fire with the turret, spraying the squad of aliens full of powerful plasma bolts. He managed to kill three grunts that were unlucky enough to be in his line of sight. That was all he could do before an Elite tossed a grenade onto the barrel of the turret. Mendoza dove out of his seat, just managing to avoid the blast. "Holy hell that was close!" he yelled out as he rolled into cover. Chief and I exchanged fire with the aliens. Master Chief calmly switched to his pistol, popped out of cover, and put a round right through the opening in a jackal's shield, managing to make it stumble and drop its shield. The Master Chief took advantage of the opening and put a round right in its head. A marine whistled his approval, as he slunk back into cover for a reload.

I noticed one elite was getting closer to us, advancing recklessly and he was about to pay for his mistake. I rose quickly, pulled him from the top, and before he could make a sound, I stabbed him in the neck with my combat knife. Another Elite watched his ally disappear, and quickly backpedaled to the safety of cover. He barked commands to the remaining grunts and they pounded my position with suppressive fire, pinning me down. This gave Chief and Mendoza an opportunity, as they quickly rose sprayed the rest with molten lead, putting them down for a dirt nap. We only got a moment of rest before several more dropships were sighted coming down, and this position wasn't good enough to hold them.

Cortana informed the current C.O. "Sergeant, we're going to get overrun on our side, we're moving back into the structure, how's it going on your side."

"Same thing, we held them off as best we could but there is too many of the fuckers. We're moving back now." His voice came over the comm. We could hear the gunfire through the connection as the marines fought tooth and nail.

We just passed the flamethrower tank that I had prepared earlier and I signaled for Chief and Mendoza to hold at this position. It seemed that it would be of some use after all. They both nodded and pressed against the corner, with me in the middle, waiting for the first sign of opposition. Two minutes passed, before I saw what seemed like a mirage appearing right ahead of me. I opened fire and was rewarded with a warble of surprise, as the Elite's camouflage generator was hit. The element of surprise gone, he opened fire managing to get a few hits on me, draining my shields by half and that was as far as he got. A quick burst from one of the men behind me, and he went down. Behind him, covenant troops streamed in to overtake us but I waited for the right moment to unleash my trap. I put a single shot into the tank and watched the chaos ensue. The screams of the Covenant troops put a grim smile my face. It seemed that the explosion had killed the last of the enemies at this position so we moved over to the other squad to assist them.

They were pinned down and looked like they needed some help badly. It was a good thing we had arrived when we did. We moved behind the enemy and proceeded to open fire. The others must have saw us moving up from behind as they popped out of cover to draw the enemy fire and give it right back at them. It was a textbook pincer attack and it was goddamn effective as we finished them off in a matter of seconds.

The rest of the day went by in the same fashion as we cleared the LZ with the survivors of the final lifeboat. We had managed to get though relatively unharmed, save for several marines lost in holding out. We got most of them out and that's what counted. I was tired to the bone and the sight of Echo 419 overhead put a small smile on my face as we could finally rest easy and get out of here. The marines loaded up and we managed to get the warthog back onto the ship. With the chief and me stepping on the pelican shook as the weight of two Spartans coming onto the ship made it wavered. It was near weight capacity but it barely managed to hold all of us on it. With all of us buckled in and secured we signaled for Foehammer to lift off. The Chief let out a sigh of relief in the chair next to mine. It had been a long day of fighting and even more so for us Spartans, who fought on the front line. I couldn't help but feel just as exhausted as him. I looked out the back of the ship as we flew through the air towards the horizon.

I knew that in the days ahead there would be more fights like the ones today and I knew that this was just the beginning.


	5. Downtime

**Demons and Wolves**

**Chapter 4: Downtime.**

**A/N: This is probably going to follow most of Halo: the flood but with a large game changer in the form of Noble Six. Read Review and Follow Please! **

The Pelican landed us on a plateau located somewhere north of where we had crashed landed. The forward operating base had been designated Castle Base and was currently where all the survivors of the Autumn had regrouped. I was given a room to myself as well as the Chief. For a base camp located on some strange alien ring world, it offered a lot of amenities. I slept, ate, showered, and enjoyed some downtime. Resting was extremely hard to come by these days. I took off my suit and quietly sat down on my bed, reflecting on the events of the day before. Before I could get a good bearing on my thoughts, a young freckle faced private poked his head through the door. "Excuse me sir, Major Silva requested you and Master Chief's presence at his Command Post."

"All right I'll-"

"Also, he requested that you come without your armor." I was already out of my armor so this was of no problem but, why specifically without armor? I nodded my head and he crisply turned around to leave. In such a volatile environment armor was critical in case of a surprise attack. However, I was sure the Major was aware of this, there had to be a reason why. Thus I left, armor-less, and feeling slightly out of my skin, quite literally in this case.

I met up with Chief halfway there. He was also without his suit giving me the opportunity to see the legend under the armor. He was younger than expected, with a pale white complexion due to spending so much time in the suit, I figured. His eyes seemed alert, darting from side to side, his demeanor showed otherwise though he gave off the visage of a relaxed man but I knew better, when you have as much experience as the man in front of me you never truly relaxed. His home was on the battlefield and I supposed that made me his next door neighbor.

"Enjoying yourself?" I asked. He gave a small grin in response. "Yeah me too." He was the quiet type but at least our small conversations proved that he had a bit of a social side, albeit a tiny one. We walked towards the entrance to the command post where two ODST's were standing guard. They gave us a quick once-over before speaking.

"Identify yourself."The ODST on the left spoke, as he tried to remember who the soldiers in front of him were.

"Spartan 117 and Noble Six, reporting for duty."

One of the helljumpers frowned slightly before asking. "What kind of identification is that?" That made me realize that no one here new my name or rank. They probably had no idea that I was even part of Noble squad, I was just recently reassigned to them after all. With the fiasco that was Reach no one here had any idea that they had an extra Spartan. Master Chief didn't seemed to care as he had been identified as a Spartan and it wasn't as if his name really mattered. It was plain first name with no last name so it wasn't worth mentioning. We both said nothing, and waited for someone to clear us through.

"That's a pretty bad question coming from someone named Yutrzenika." A voice called out causing the two helljumpers to laugh. I turned to see who spoke and saw a young woman, perhaps in her late twenties sporting marine fatigues, walking towards us. She looked at us, her face expressionless as she looked at the large men standing beside her. Before we could speak, a man appeared from the door way.

"Silva is ready for you now." The man beckoned us in. I curtly nodded, and followed the Chief into the room. The woman, whom I realized was a helljumper after noticing the tattoos on her arm, smiled at the man before the door slid shut, cutting us off from view. Now inside Silva's office I looked around to examine it. For the most part it was modest in décor, with laptops strewn around along with some paper. Silva himself looked like a stereotypical Major he had a small moustache covering his face and a slowly receding hairline. The rest of his body showed that he was a man who had seen combat. A Helljumper tattoo on his arm told me that he commanded the ODST and all the marines in this area. All three of us saluted and he returned the gestured. He didn't offer us a seat so we stood while he began talking.

"So I finally meet the illustrious Spartan-117 and the mysterious Spartan. Captain Keyes may have been your superior but he is M.I.A. and we don't know where he is. So, for now, you report to me. The woman standing next to you is Lieutenant Melissa McKay she is my second in command. Now I want you two to understand that despite the fact that you two are with the Spartan program, you will obey my orders. If one of us says shit I want you two to say: what color? What size? And where do you want it?"

Silva seemed pretty hot-headed and a bit of a smart-ass, but he was the leader of the ODST so he had to be good at something. I nodded and Chief did nothing. McKay awkwardly wringed her hands together but said nothing, and Silva continued on.

"That said; it is useful that we have a man who carries more medals than my entire company," the Chief showed no reaction to the praise, probably used to getting it from others. "And another so covered up in black ops that I don't even know what his favorite color is."

"You've read my file?" I asked, surprised that he had access to information like that at a time like this.

"Only the parts that weren't covered in black ink." McKay said, reminding me of something that Kat had said once.

"Anyway you two freaks are taking orders from me now." Silva spoke up again. His mouth sneering at the word freaks.

That was going over the line. I glared at Silva, and Chief said nothing, but you could tell the tension in this room became so thick you could cut it with a sword, no less. It seemed Chief was very in control of his emotions, as saying anything like that to a Spartan, was bound to tick him off. I, on the other head, was rather annoyed. Silva wasn't done however, as he rattled on.

"You two ever heard of Charles Darwin? 'Course not; he never fought in a war. He proposed a theory called evolution. That the better species evolves, and the lesser species died out. That is what is going on here. The better species, us, the ODST's the real core of the UNSC. You know what happened to your fellow Spartans? _They died out_. They will be relegated as freaks, polluting the dustbin of humanity. You two are freaks and there's nothing that won't change that. You are the last of your kind and you won't last long either."

Anger flowed through me as I thought of Carter, Kat, Jorge, and Emile. I thought of their sacrifice. I thought of the Spartans of Beta-company, whom I trained with for years and years thinking of nothing but revenge on the Covenant for what they did to humanity. I thought about how I was the last one left. I looked at Chief and saw his unreadable face, but I knew he was thinking the same thing. I took a deep breath.

"Hell no Sir."

"No Sir."

Chief had said the same thing, albeit more formally. I stood straighter and stared straight into Silva eyes. Silva's face softened from its original hard exterior."I understand that. Helljumpers look after their own as well."His demeanor changed now business-like, he turned to the table. Captain Keyes had been abducted by the Covenant and it was time to get him back.

After the meeting was finished, I walked out of the room, Chief following along behind my back. "That bastard has no idea of what he's talking about!" Chief looked at me surprise showing on his face, probably due to my sudden outburst, but he flicked his hand slightly as if to urge me to go on. "The augmentations, the battles, the sacrifices, and he's got the nerve to call us freaks? We aren't just machines. We're people too!"

Chief, put an arm on my shoulder, and quietly said. "There's nothing we can do about it Six. You know he's wrong and no matter what we say he's not gonna change his mind."

"You do realize we may be the last of our kind. My team died protecting Reach, and I assume yours did too else we'd have more support." We looked at each other for a second, thinking about all that we'd lost. I felt a sense of camaraderie with him. We were possibly the last two of our respective programs, him a Spartan II and me a Spartan III.

" I wouldn't mind knowing your name." Chief suddenly said. I looked him in the face and gave him a grin.

"It's William."

A/N: So looks like Chief and Six are getting a little Friendly here! I'm probably going to make these guys get more talkative and friendly as time goes on, especially Noble Six. I try to model him mostly after me I guess, and I think I'm a rather talkative fellow. And my name is William too. Anyways props to Master DV for editing the chapter, and thanks for reading.


	6. Start Quiet, End With a Bang

(A/N: If some of you are wondering why there are appearances of battle rifles, carbines, and beam rifles, along with weapons that appear in Halo Reach/Other Games within the story. I decided to merge the weapons together, making it somewhat easier, and dealing with the weapons issue that appears throughout the Games. Any questions, feel free to ask. Read Review and Follow please! Also, if anybody can offer their services for beta reading i would be in debt to you. This one may be a bit messy because my previous beta is now unavailable, so i apologize in advance. Anyways enjoy the story.)

Chapter 6: Start Quiet, End with a bang

I sat in the pelican with Chief and several Helljumpers, flying towards the Truth and Reconciliation, the supposed Covenant ship where Keyes was being held. Cortana had updated Chief and I on the situation. Another AI had managed to produce a fake signal, tricking the Covies into believing that Pelican flying towards them was a dropship. This mission was important, if not to save Captain Keyes, then it was to send a message to the Covenant. The humans weren't just surviving. We were fighting. The pelican lurched slightly, and some of the ODST's next to me shifted uncomfortably. I took the time to take a look at the people I was going to be fighting alongside. These people were under Silva, and maybe they thought that Chief and I were freaks too. It didn't matter at this point. These marines were going to help us to the landing area, where we were going to infiltrate the ship, and a second group of marines would join the assault on the ship. The mission was simple, at its core, get in, get Keyes, and get out. My helmet in my hands, I waited patiently for us to get close.

Foehammer's voice came over the pelican's intercom: "We are five minutes to dirt… I repeat five minutes to dirt."

Sergeant Parker, the commander of these Helljumpers, took this as a signal and stood up to address his men.

"Okay boys and girls, Check your weapons, and Lock and Load. The Covies are throwing a party on the Truth and Reconciliation, and we are invited. Chief and Six go in first, and you follow them in. Now I don't know about you guys, but I like having a swabbie on point. Don't know what six is, but I like having him on point too!" There was laughter heard all around the pelicans, as the Helljumpers looked as us and laughed, smiling. Parker looked at both of us and gave us a thumb up, Chief returning it, and I smiled and returned it as well. Guess not all the marines were so against the idea of Spartans. I was going in with a sniper rifle, and Chief was going to carry a shotgun. So I'd take them out from afar while chief would smash them from the inside. When we were in the ship, I'd probably switch to the DMR, and Chief would probably swap to his Assault Rifle.

The Pelican hovered over the dirt, and we hopped off, quietly unloading our weapons and sweeping the area. The Pelican hovered in the air for a brief second, and flew away. It was time to begin. I popped a silencer onto my sniper rifle, and cocked it. I walked over to Chief, who was surveying the area. There was only one path to go, and the covenant work lights, showing the path ahead, illuminated it. I walked up to Chief, and asked him," You ready?" He gave a curt nod in response.

The footpath curved upwards onto a small plateau, covered by the cliffs. I took point, with Chief close behind, taking small measured steps. As I stepped onto the plateau, I saw a solitary Elite, looking the other way, staring at his rifle. I unsheathed my combat knife, and calmly walked towards it. I slit its throat, and caught it before it hit the ground, gently laying it to the ground is Chief got up. Cortana chimed in, " Well, not bad." I had a small smile, as I sheathed my combat knife again, continuing to move up. I finally got to the top of the cliff, deciding to wait for the rest of the platoon.

As we finally regrouped, Cortana popped a waypoint on my HUD," Six, the ship is over there, I'd suggest waiting for Chief and the rest, I'm detecting several heat signatures up ahead. "You think I can't take them?" "You're good, not that good." Chief got up, and walked over next to me. "Chief, we gotta-" "I heard from Cortana already." "All right."

I walked towards the waypoint; beside me were Chief and two other Helljumpers. I got to the area where Cortana said there were enemies, and she was right. 3 shade turrets, flanked by several elites, jackals, and grunts. I popped the sniper rifle's safety off and found some cover behind a tree. Chief moved back behind the turrets, and raised three fingers and pointed at the shades. I understood what he meant, and nodded. I turned to the helljumpers, and whispered over the COM, "Fire after me." Green acknowledgment lights winked on, and I got ready. Chief counted down, and I aimed at the first turret.

"3…2…1…Now." One, two, three, four, rounds were squeezed off, and the 3 shade turrets were taken out, standing no chance against the armor-piercing ammo. Chief took advantage of the confusion, and opened fire with his shotgun, taking out several elites. Finally realizing what was going on, the remaining Elites barked orders to the Grunts and Jackals.

The ODST's took this moment to fire. Parker fired three bursts as an Elite, the first two serving to knock its shields out, and the last one serving to blow its head off. The Elite hadn't even hit the floor when Parker swapped to another grunt, shooting its mask off. It ran around, slowly suffocating from the air, before it lay down, wheezing and took its last breath. Other ODST's followed suit, taking out several more Jackals and Grunts, leaving stragglers, whom Chief and I promptly eliminated. So far so good, as Chief waved us forward. I jogged up next to him, as we continued along.

We began walking along the path, next to a large ravine, falling down to god knows where. As we passed a small outcrop of rocks, a group of two Jackals popped out and shot an unfortunate Marine in the face with a plasma pistol. The Marine stopped, seemingly in shock, then crumpled to the ground. I grabbed one, throwing it off the Cliffside, and Chief broke the others neck. Hopefully we could keep the element of surprise for a bit longer. I saw a Helljumper bend down, rip off the dog tags of the dead marine, along with a letter, and respectfully bow his head. Parker walked up and put a comforting arm on his shoulder," The time for mourning is later. We have to move."

Finally getting to the top of a cliff, we saw the Truth and Reconciliation. It was much larger than originally thought, horizontally stretching almost as far as the eye could see. The pickup area was illuminated by an eerie white glow, most likely a grav lift going to pull us up in there. The current problem at hand though, was the patrols. Two Hunters stood guard in front of the lift, and Shades, Elites, Jackal snipers, and normal infantry dotted the area. I crouched down low, and asked Chief, "What's the plan?"

"You take the jackal snipers and shades, I have the elites, we focus on the hunters together first, and ODST's will focus on the infantry."

I nodded, and moved to an appropriate spot to snipe, behind several rocks, with a good view of the area. Chief moved silently behind the Hunters, and one of the Helljumpers whistled softly in admiration. "Never seen a seven foot guy move like a ballet dancer before."

Cortana took the reins in counting down when it was time to fire. "Take down the hunters, in 1, 2, 3, fire." I popped off two rounds into each of the hunters piercing the small belly of the hunter, the only part with no armor, chief followed with a double tap on one hunter with his shotgun, Then emptying the rest of his clip on the other. The latter died under the combined fire, but the former went berserk, growling in anger and charging at the Chief, who managed to dodge just in time. The growling alerted the rest of the Covenant, who started to open fire. So much for the element of surprise. I heard Parker cry," Let em have it!" as I reloaded, and began to fire again.

I took out the shade turrets quickly, firing rounds into the Grunt pilot's head, then swapped over to the Jackal snipers. A beam rifle round thudded into the dirt next to me, and I put myself back into cover. I checked my shields were working properly, and then turned back out of cover. I didn't want to make the same mistake Kat did. I popped of one round, straight into a Jackals chest, and the bullet went straight through. I swapped over to the others, and racked up two more kills, leaving two Jackals with holes in their chest and head, before a beam rifle round slammed into my chest, taking out my shields. I got winded, and caught my breath for a second, before pivoting into cover.

Turning again, I took out the last sniper, shooting him in the legs, then in the head. I then took a look to see how Chief was doing. He was taking on two elites by himself, and I saw him shoot one point-blank with the shotgun, pulling it up, and using it as a bullet shield as he advance on the other. When he got close, he threw the corpse on the Elite, before calmly shooting through it, killing it. "Reinforcements coming, watch out boys." Cortana's cool voice crackled in my ear.

Two more Hunters were beamed down by the gravity lift, and joined the fray. One of them spotted me, and charged its cannon. I immediately got up and ran away. Its aim however was good, and it managed to land a shot in front of me, causing my shields to drain to half, and my sniper rifle to slag. Tossing it aside, I slung my DMR, and moved to Chief and the Helljumpers, who managed to kill everything but the Hunters. Parker yelled, "Focus fire!" as the Helljumpers poured all they had on the Hunters. They were tough, but not invincible as they were felled by the sheer amount of bullets rained upon them.

"Echo 419, this is Cortana, drop area is clear."

The Pelican, which had originally dropped us off, came back over the side of the cliff, and dropping off several normal marines to join us. The marines exchanged jokes and insults, as Cortana worked her magic on the ship systems.

"Allright, we can go in now. Just step into the grav lift, and you should be beamed up."

I walked in there, with Chief and Sergeant Parker, who gave me a thumbs up. I returned it, as suddenly, we were pulled into the air.

One of the marines yelled, "Yehaw!" as he was also pulled up.

I quietly said, " This is going to be, interesting."

"Yeah, probably." Chief replied.

The Covenant didn't know it yet, but the Marines had landed.

**XXxXxXxXxX**

Like everything the Covies colored, the ships interior was a dull purple color, with its floors carrying strange markings, and painted with a dull black covering. The drop bay area was large, able to fit several wraiths and ghosts, and I took a look around, scoping the area. Cortana spoke," We're in, I've got a good lock on the Captain's CNI transponder. No Covenant defenses detected."

A marine jokingly asked," What, there's no Covenant here? Maybe nobody's home…"

A door flashed open, and Covenant troops began pouring in.

His friend deadpanned," No Covenant huh, you just had to open your mouth."

I dumped my SRS, it wasn't going to be very effective in these close quarters, and decided to use my DMR, and Chief kept his shotgun. I hunkered down behind the wraith, and used it for cover. I popped two rounds into an Elite forcing him into cover, and Chief lobbed a frag behind it, taking the Elite and two grunts down with it. Swapping over to a jackal, I shot a round clean through its head, causing the jackal to explode in a small cloud of red mist. It had barely hit the ground before I pivoted to two more, hitting them with rounds to the chest and stomach.

An Elite hefting two plasma rifles growled, and opened fire on my position, and several bolts glanced off my armor, draining my shields. A grunt behind him shot two bolts of plasma, one hitting a Marine in the chests, killing him instantly. He crumpled to the ground, and lay there, motionless. His friend yelled in anger and opened fire recklessly, before he was pulled down by Sergeant Parker, and given a slap in the face. Chief on the other hand, had calmly dispatched of two Elites and their companions, and moved over to kill the Elite that had me pinned. Two shotgun blasts to the chest was sufficient to dispatch them. The rest of the boarding party successfully killed all the invaders, and we waited for more.

Several more waves came, and despite losing 3 marines to the Covenant, we managed to dispatch most of them without incident. Suddenly, a pair of massive blast doors opened, and revealed a pair of Hunters. "Scatter!" Yelled Parker as all of us dove out of the way. An unlucky marine was caught in a fuel rod blast and killed, as the Hunters stomped around the room, opening fire wherever they saw fit. I ducked behind a ghost with Chief, as we exchanged fire with one of the Hunters.

Cortana's voice suddenly came over our helmets as she yelled; "The other hunter has Parker in his sights!" Parker ran out of ammo with his assault rifle, and swapped to his pistol, continuing to open fire on the behemoth that was advancing. With a large swipe, it attempted to hit Parker. Luckily, he dodged out of the way in the nick of time. However, the spikes on the back of the Hunter pierced his armor, sending him sprawling to the floor. The Hunter menacingly advanced on him, ready to kill him. I looked at Chief, and he nodded. We both vaulted over the ghost, and opened fire on the Hunter, which turned, and suddenly collapsed, a hole in its back. Parker sat, his back against the wall, with a smoking pistol in his hand and a grin on his face. Chief helped him to his feet, and I passed him an assault rifle from a dead marine. The other marines had managed to down the last Hunter, and for now, the bay was clear.

A medic helped Parker, as a marine approached Chief and I. "Area secure, Sir. We'd better keep moving. The door the hunters came through is open, maybe we can go through there."

Cortana chimed in," Not the worst idea, let's go through there."

We exited the drop bay, and headed down the large corridor. At its end, there was a second set of blast doors. The same marine told us," The door's locked, sir. No way through." Cortana replied, " We can use the side passages to find a way around."

By this time Parker was up and going, and he said, "We'd be sitting ducks in that narrow space. We can hold this position if you find your way around and open the door from the other side."

Cortana replied," Okay, boys, let's see if we can find a way to open this door. There was a small side corridor in the hallway we went through, and we walked through it. The corridor snaked around, and onto a balcony overlooking another cargo bay, only this one was filled with Covenant. They hadn't noticed us yet, and I asked Chief," Any idea on how to deal with the Covies?"

"Go behind them, take them out quietly for as long as possible, then kill them all."

"Sounds good."

I tiptoed across the cargo bay, trying my best to be quiet. Unfortunately, my boots crunched on something. And all of a sudden I found no less than a dozen rifles pointed at me.

"So much for stealth."

I dove into cover just in time, as needles, and plasma filled the area I'd once been. Chief jumped down from the balcony, and hit two elites in the back with his shotgun. Realizing he'd run out of ammo, he threw the gun at a grunt, knocking it of its feet. Drawing a battle rifle, he promptly finished it off with a burst. I took advantage of the distraction to sneak behind a Jackal and slit its throat. Running to where Chief was, I hopped into cover with him.

"You take shields, I take the kill shot."

Nodding, I rose up again, taking the shields of 3 Elites, and watching them fall, one, two three. The Elites fell; gaping holes in their head, and the remaining Grunts went berserk in their fear, running at us with plasma grenades in a kamikaze charge. I put them down with my DMR, and the plasma detonated, leaving a glowing blue haze in its wake.

"Room clear, now let's get this door open." Cortana finally said.

I popped open the door, watching as the Marines came in, guns at the ready, then relaxing when they realized that the room was clear, save for a pile of dead alien bodies.

"Get moving boys, Keyes isn't going to save himself."

"You heard the lady, let's go!"

"I see a door over there, let's move."

There was a large docking bay behind it, and as we got there, we saw a Covenant dropship taking off. Taking potshots at it would do no good here, as we watched it glide away. Fortunately for us after that, there was no Covenant in the immediate area. Continuing around the docking bay, there was a door behind it.

Which hissed open, revealing a large number of covenant troops behind it.

A grunt fired a plasma bolt straight into a Helljumpers leg, which collapsed under the pain. I pulled the man into cover, and applied some biofoam to the wound to ease some of the pain. The man groaned, and grunted in pain as the gel healed him, but his breathing steadied, and when I handed him his Assault rifle back, he cocked it confidently. Back into the battle, I saw Chief jump into it, opening fire with his battle rifle with lethal results, seeing that several grunts had fallen under his fire. An elite ultra pulled out a sword in fury at losing men, and charged him. Emptying his clip, he swapped to a pistol, pinging shot after shot against its shields until they finally failed.

Then the gun jammed.

Chief got ready to enter melee, when I shot the Elite cleanly through the head. He looked at me, and gave me a nod of thanks, which I returned. Probably wouldn't be the first time. We moved up, watching for any Elites who tried to flank us. I dove over cover, dropping two Grunts, and Chief followed suit, taking out an Elite who was about to open fire on me. Pivoting left, I kicked a Jackal to the ground, and stomped it with my boot. Needless to say, around a ton of Spartan was sufficient to kill it. Chief, now back to back with me covered the right side, sprayed a volley of rounds at a Elite, who dove into cover, then realized that the ODST's had lobbed a grenade into it. He warbled in surprise, and then died from the explosion. After that, it was clear.

"For two people who have almost never worked together, you work well." Cortana helpfully put in.

It was slightly surprising, but in a good way how well Chief and I worked together. He still infrequently talked, but then again, so did I. While the room was clear, I checked on the wounded ODST. His visor depolarized, and he grinned, thanking me. Nodding, I turned back to the door in front of us, now open.

Yet another locked door, and this was the only level with every door locked. An ODST perked up and asked," Hey, which way should we go now? All the doors on this level are locked!"

Cortana replied, and I detected a slight but of frustration in her voice," Wait a moment. I'm going to access the Covenant B-net and locate an override code to open the door."

Another marine impatiently said, "Well, you'd better step on it Cortana, we can't hold them off all day."

"I'm working on it."

She then said, in a COM that only Chief and I could hear, "I'd like to see you crack a 128,000-bit modulating encryption key."

I chuckled, and Chief simply shrugged. Cortana was a rather interesting AI. And I remembered that I saved her life back on Reach, transporting her to the Pillar of Autumn. Interesting coincidences lead to interesting consequences.

The blast doors slid open to reveal a pair of Hunters, which opened fire immediately. Diving behind cover, we waited for a lull in the fire. It never came, as the Hunters seemed content with blasting our cover till it melted, which it gradually would. Chief calmly said to me, "Tell the marines to give suppressing fire. On my go, we get out of cover"

I relayed the orders to the Helljumpers and they nodded.

"Now!"

We hopped out of cover as the ODST's popped out, hitting the Hunter pair with all they had. Chief grabbed a sticky grenade and lobbed it into the fleshy bottom, the hole between one of the hunters. It exploded, and the hunter flinched, but stood steady. In fact, it seemed angrier. It charged at chief, and he slowly backed away, continuing fire, but the Hunter just deflected it off with his shield. Checking to make sure the other Hunter wasn't after me, I ran over to the first one, a Grenade in my hand. On their back was a small opening, where you could see the worms that gave them life. I had no time to tell Chief what I was doing, so I ran at the Hunter. Priming the grenade, I jammed it straight into the fleshy back of the Hunter. Realizing what was causing a mild annoyance to it, the giant used its shield and full force smacked me to the side. I hit a bulkhead hard, but I would be relatively fine. The Hunter turned to face Chief, ready to kill him, and then imploded, sending bits of orange blood and worm everywhere. No time to revel in the victory, as there was still another Hunter, enraged by the death of its brother. It charged at a group of three ODST's, two of which managed to dive out of the way. The third was not too lucky, getting hit by the Hunters' massive shield, and his chest caved in from the impact. There was no way he'd survive that. It turned, and saturated the area with a volley of fuel rods, killing another one. I split to the right, and Chief to the left, as we focused on distracting it. It couldn't face both ways, so it decided to face me. It gave a otherworldly growl, as it charged up another fuel rod blast. However, with a screech of pain, the final Hunter finally hit the deck. Behind it, Chief and Parker's respective Battle and Assault rifles were smoking, as Parker commented.

"Tough Bastard."

That battle Chief and I, Parker, and the wounded ODST from earlier.

The only consolation to the deaths, was that the door was finally open, and that we could push on.

After moving through the second level, we got to the bridge.

"Be careful boys, this is the bridge, and high ranking Elites are here so keep your distance."

"Thanks for the concern." Parker deadpanned.

The ODST laughed, and I smiled a little behind my helmet. As a Spartan we were supposed to be stoic heroes, never laughing, always silent. That didn't mean we didn't appreciate a good joke. At least, that didn't mean I didn't. Cortana opened the bridge door, and we stepped onto the bridge. A Zealot shipmaster stood, typing commands, and when he saw us, he drew not one, but two energy swords, and charged us. The other three Elites in the room heard the commotion, then cloaked, disappearing out of sight.

"Bastard has active camo on!"

Chief and I focused on the Zealot, while Parker and the ODST looked for the three other Elites. I emptied a clip into the Zealot, draining half its shields, and Chief used his battle rifle to good effect, draining the last of its shields. I was going for the kill shot with my DMR, when it was slapped away from me. A Stealth Elite decloaked in front of me, and hit me with a stunning blow with his plasma repeater. I grabbed it, and threw it away from him, and hit him with a straight right hook. The blow slid of his shields, but drained a portion of them, as the elite countered by kicking at my face, striking a glancing blow. I was lucky that I had shields; else the hit would have caved my face in. I ducked under, weaving for a uppercut that stunned the elite backwards. I then jumped forwards, kicking both my feet into it, and pushing off him, threw him to the ground. Landing on my feet, stumbling slightly from the attack. I pulled out my pistol, and shot the Elite in the chest, taking him out of the fight for good.

Running over to help chief, who was dodging and weaving the swings of the Zealot, I could tell the Elite was highly trained, and that Chief couldn't last much longer. I pumped a few shots, knowing that would do nothing, but it proved to distract the Zealot, and that was all that Chief needed. He smacked both arms of the Zealot as in turned to face me, and it dropped both swords in surprise. I ran forwards, punching it in the back, and Chief followed with two powerful blows to the front, draining its shields to a half. It yelled, and tried to grapple me. Sliding under, I swept the Elites leg's out from under him, and stepped on them. This was sufficient to take out its shields for good this time, as Chief drew his sidearm, and ended it.

Parker and his ODST had taken out the two other Elites, but Parker had gotten nicked in the shoulder as a result. Only a minor wound, so it wasn't the worst.

Cortana finally said,

"The captain's transponder signal is strong, he must be close."

"This looks like a good spot. We'll stay here; make sure nobody comes up behind you while you go after the Captain. Good luck swabbie."

We nodded, and went behind a door, that led to where his transponder was supposedly in. Walking into a detention center, a plasma bolt whizzed past my helmet, and I heard a marine go, "Good to see you guys!" We were in the right place.

I looked around where the shots came from; rifle at the ready, but couldn't see anything. The Elites had cloaked. Chief suddenly swerved, firing at seemingly nothing at all, until a Elite materialized out of nowhere, dripping blood and guts over the floor. I saw a shimmer in front of me, and it was getting closer, until I shot it. The Elite materialized, groaned in pain, the fell to the ground.

"Area clear!"

I heard Keyes voice come out through the cacophony of marines yelling in joy and happiness.

"Stow it, Corporal! Six, Chief, the power control's along the back wall, open the cells, and get us out of here."

I walked over, and hit the switch. The plasma walls disintegrated, and the prisoners walked out. I helped the tired prisoners to their feet, while Chief went to help Captain Keyes.

As he walked out of his prison, the Marines stood at attention.

"Marines! Lock and load your weapons! Let's be ready to move."

The marines armed themselves with plasma rifles off of Covenant weapon containers. While watching them bustling about, Keyes turned to the both of us.

"While the Covenant had us locked up in here, I overheard the guards talking about the ring world. They call it, 'Halo'. Cortana's cool clear voice replied." One moment, sir. Accessing the Covenant Battlenet. According to the data in their networks, the ring has some kind of deep religious significance. And if I'm analyzing this correctly, the Covenant believe Halo is some kind of weapon, with vast, unimaginable power."

Keyes frowned. "Its true… the Covenant said that whoever controls Halo controls the fate of the universe."

"Now I see… I have intercepted a number of messages about a Covenant search team, scouting for a "control room" of some sort. I thought they were looking for a bridge of a cruiser that I damaged during the battle above the ring. But they have to be looking for Halo's control room.

Keyes face hardened to steel." That's bad news. If Halo is a weapon, and the Covenant gain control of it, they'll use it against us and wipe out the entire human race. Spartans, Cortana. We need to beat the Covenant to Halo's control room. Marines! Let's move!"

"Hoo-rah!"

Keyes pulled a needler from the ground, and the pink needles glowed crystalline.

"Spartans, you have the point."

One marine looked at us, then looked back at Keyes.

"Sir, where do we head?"

I decided to chime in.

"Just follow the corpses."

**XXxXxXxXxX**

After we let Keyes and the other prisoners recuperate for a while, we moved out. The next room, the bridge was supposed to have Parker and the ODST standing guard. What was waiting for us however, were two stealth Elites wielding energy swords, and Parker and the ODST lay facedown on the floor, dead. I took the first Elite out before he could activate his camo module, and the other one was quickly shot in the head by Chief. Both hadn't hit the ground before we continued moving, stopping only to grab Parker and the ODST's dog tags. The time for mourning was later. We began to backtrack, as I said, following the bodies. Getting through the bridge and back into the hall below, Chief walked first. A barrage of needles and plasma bolts greeted him. He backpedaled, and turned to us.

"That's definitely trouble."

"Cortana, how many hostiles?" I asked.

"Around 10, all grunts, and two Elites. No jackals in sight."

"Thanks."

"Chief, I got this, just stay up here and take care of the Captain."

He looked at me, as if surprised, then nodded. I took a deep breath, and ran out of cover, opening fire on the Covenant. Several carbine bullets pinged off my shields, and a plasma bolt hit my visor, but my shields held. Popping my head out, I took down 5 grunts with headshots. Ducking back, reloading, I repeated the process, instead taking out an Elite. The first 3 rounds served to knock out its shields, and the 4th slammed into the back of his helmet. The Elite hit the ground, dead, as the grunts began to panic. The remaining Elite charged my position, firing his Plasma Rifle as he did so. His armor gleamed blue, so he was a rookie, and would be easy. I ran forward, absorbing his shots with my shield, and kicked him over, delivering the coup de grace quickly. The last three grunts activated plasma grenades, and charged in a kamikaze. Putting them down, I backpedaled to a safe distance as the grenades exploded. I checked my rifle, and noticed I was out of ammo. I tossed it out, and grabbed a Covenant Carbine from a weapons cache.

"We're clear Chief, you can come out now."

Chief walked out and nodded at me, as the rest of the Marines, feeling rested and ready to move again, followed suit.

**XXxXxXxXxX**

"Cortana to Echo 419- we have the Captain and need extraction on the double."

"Negative, Cortana, I've been engaged by Covenant air patrols, and I cant shake em off. I'll be fine but I'll take too long. Better off finding your own ride, I'm sorry."

"Acknowledged, Foe Hammer. Cortana out."

Talking to Captain Keyes this time, Cortana spoke," Air support is cut off, Sir. She said we'd be better off to find our own ride.

A marine, no doubt traumatized and scared by his time spent under the Covenant's hold, began to lose it, his voicing becoming high and panicked.

"We're trapped in here! We're screwed! We're all gonna die!"

Keyes replied," Stow the bellyaching, soldier! Remember you're a Marine; one of the best the UNSC has to offer. Spartans, Cortana, if you can get us into one of those Spirit's or Phantoms, I can get us outta here.

"You got it."

Right on cue, the hangar bay door opened, revealing a dozen grunts charging in. Keyes and the marines killed half, and Chief expended the last of his Battle rifle ammo on them, killing the rest. Luckily in the hangar bay there was one Spirit docked. I released the dropship from its clamps, and the marines piled in.

"Everybody, mount up. Let's get out of here." Keyes calmly said.

A pair of Hunters suddenly appeared, and began to charge their guns. However before any of the Hunters could fire a shot, the twin forks of the spirit rammed into both of them, and they were crushed. They were strong, but not that strong as the Spirit completely punched through their thick armor. One of them clung on to the Spirit, and fell off as we left the Truth and Reconciliation behind.

"Not bad, not bad at all."

Chief heard me talking to myself, and chuckled slightly. I shrugged as we took off into the night. For our second mission together, we hadn't done so badly.


	7. Dark Hallways

**Chapter 6 : Dark Hallways**

Getting off the Spirit, the Marines at Alpha Base watched it lazily. The Spirit gracefully glided towards the landing pad, and quietly landed. The Marine prisoners walked out, sighs of relief on their faces, followed by Keyes and I. All the marines saluted Keyes as he walked past them, and he gave them a respectable nod in reply. Before getting to Silva's command center, he turned to both of us.

"Spartans, thanks for the rescue."

"Just doing our job sir."

"Get some rest. You'll be back in action in around 10 hours. Cartographer won't find itself. Dismissed."

We both stood at attention, and walked away. With a hiss, my helmet popped off and I looked at Chief, who kept his helmet on.

"Long day, wasn't it."

He nodded. We kept walking along, reaching the impromptu mess hall. Grabbing an MRE along with Chief, we sat down, he popped off his helmet, and we began to eat. Eating in silence for several minutes, suddenly he put his utensils on the table and asked me,

"You do realize we may be the only Spartans left."

"I know."

"Which generation?"

"Number 3, Beta Company."

"I wasn't aware there were S-3's."

"We were kept secret I suppose."

Chief was surprisingly a lot more candid than I thought. Perhaps the camaraderie with a fellow Spartan, knowing that we most likely were the last ones, gave him a sense of brotherhood. I know that I felt the same thing.

"You don't talk much Chief."

"I just don't find the need to most of the time."

"I think I am pretty talkative. For a Spartan at least, and I know you are pretty quiet for a Spartan as well."

"Yep."

"You know Chief, I never got your name." I realized.

"John." When he said this, I was taken aback at how easy it was for him to say his name. I began to wonder if he'd ever opened up to anyone other than his fellow Spartans. I was technically a fellow Spartan so I didn't count.

"Since your name is William. I used to know a Spartan named William. We called him Will because he hated his formal name."

" Used to?"

" He went to defend Reach. " That was all he needed to say. We lapsed back into silence after that, continuing to finish our meal.

As we finished Chief popped his helmet back on, and he then told me, "You fight well."

"Likewise."

"Get some rest Six, we're going to need it."

"Chief, you know what, just call me Will. Six died back on Reach with the rest of my team."

He simply nodded at that.

We separated after that, going to each of our individual quarters. It was true I guess. Noble six was my call sign, and now I was part of a new team altogether. One with a Spartan-2 and an AI, both extremely skilled, and I had to adapt. I'd learnt that camaraderie didn't just exist between us S-3's it existed between all the Spartans. Chief seemed to open up a bit today, and if he wasn't a friend, he definitely was a companion. I found myself opening up too. I'd never done that, not even with Noble team. But with them I never was able to rest. Maybe if we could, it would have happened. Sadly it never did. Either way, I had a feeling we would do many more missions together. I wasn't wrong.

XXxXxXxXxX

Two pelicans, one loaded with Marines, the other with several Marines plus Chief and I took off from Alpha Base, heading towards the location of the supposed 'Silent Cartographer' that would lead us to Halo's control room. Cortana as usual would reside within Chief's helmet, and assist us on the operation. I had my usual weapons, my DMR, pistol, and a full load of frags. Chief on the other hand swapped to an Assault Rifle for this mission, other than that his loadout was identical. The hatch was open, and I looked out onto the open sea below. The blue skies, the sandy beaches, and the large ocean, one might have mistaken this for a garden world. Too bad it held genocidal aliens, and a supposed super weapon. I popped my helmet off for a quick breath of the sea air, and it felt good to breath in. I looked at Chief, also staring out of the hatch, his helmet on though. I looked at him, and he gestured to his helmet.

"Just wanted to feel the breeze."

He simply swiped two fingers across his helmet, which was the sign for a Spartan smile. I noticed we were getting towards the beach, and it was full of Covenant. I pulled the bolt back on my DMR, and watched as Foehammer put her down amidst the attack. Plasma bolts skittered across the sand, knocking up tufts of it. The pelican touched down, and we got ready for the signal.

"Touchdown! Hit it, Marines!"

"Weapons hot! Clear the beach!" Yelled a Gunnery Sergeant Stacker from the other pelican.

"After you clear the beach, I'll set a nav point to where the cartographer's approximate location is. " Cortana added.

I hopped off the pelican on to the sand, leaving huge footprints on where I stood. A small rise was where the Covenant had set up, but for once we outnumbered them. I opened up with my DMR, sending an Elite to the ground, Chief doing the same with his Assault rifle. The steady clack of UNSC weaponry filled the air as we mercilessly attacked. With our combined firepower, it took less than 5 minutes to Eliminate all Covenant forces in the area.

Foehammer cheerfully said over the COM," Echo 419 inbound, anybody order a warthog?"

A marine joked," I didn't know you made house calls Foehammer!"

The pilot chucked," You know the motto, we deliver."

The Pelican leveled over the beach, and dropped its heavy cargo. The Warthog groaned in reply to the distance, and then did nothing. I climbed onto the back of the turret, and Chief went in front. We drove towards the navpoint Cortana had set, making it around the beach and towards a small area full of trees, and Covenant. I opened fire with the warthog's turret, and it showed its dominance over infantry, as I was rewarded with a platoon of dead grunts and jackals. Chief drifted to the side, and rammed an Elite, crushing it under the wheels, leaving a blood trail as we continued on. The path that followed was uphill, and on top of the hill, there was a Covie encampment on top, around a large, monolith-like structure with an opening. The structure seemed almost streamlined, with intricate details, a blue-grey hue around the area and the floor, seeming almost organic in a way. The aliens had set up a several turrets, and some weird caches, not weapons, but for something else. I opened up with my turret, killing Elites and forcing the rest of the Aliens into cover. Chief hopped off, spraying suppressive fire with his Assault rifle, killing a couple of Grunts who thought it was safe to come out. They fell to the ground, bullets to their chests and brain, and fired several random plasma bolts into the air. An elite poked his head out from cover, and thought no more as I shot a round into his head with the turret. It wasn't superbly accurate, but it definitely did the job. Chief flanked to the side, and opened fire on the last Elite, killing him quickly.

As the Elite drew its last breath, I hopped off the turret. Heading for the opening, Chief following suit. The opening held a Major elite hefting dual Plasma Rifles. We hit the sides of the opening as the Elite roared in anger. I signaled for Chief to provide suppressing fire, and he swung out of Cover and did so. The Elite roared, as the shots pinged off his shields. I tackled the Elite, and pulled out my combat knife, stabbing its neck. The Elite struggled for a second, then relaxed, dead as a doornail. Moving on, the interior of the structure had a downward, extremely dark walkway, which led too a small room with a door. The room, as usual was full of Covenant, 4 Elites to be exact. One had gold armor and retreated behind the open door.

"Don't let them close the doors!" Cortana urgently warned

The warning came to late, as the door-swooshed shut, leaving Chief and I alone with 4 Elites. One Elite minor charged at me, firing his needle rifle as he did so. Two needles slammed into the wall behind me and detonated, barely nicking my shields. I returned fire with the DMR, putting a round clean through the Elites chest. Chief moved forward, strafing left and right as he did so, spraying two Elites with bullets. The narrow room had no way to dodge, and they went down, roaring and groaning in pain as the bullets hit them. The last elite, pulled out a sword, and charged at us.

"Sword master, watch it!" I told Chief. I faced several of these Elites on Reach; they fought damn well with their blades. This Elite wore white armor, which showed he was of high ranking. We backpedaled up the hallway, opening fire on the Elite as we did so, draining its shields steadily. I charged forward and swung at me. I threw myself onto the floor, just avoiding getting my arm cut off. Chief took this distraction to shoot the Elites hand, severing it. It roared in pain as it charged us again, this time without a major weapon. I kicked it to the ground, and fired a round clear through its head. Now that the immediate problem was gone, it was time to focus on the locked door.

"Cortana, is there a security control room nearby?" Chief asked

"Scanning, let's see. Yes there is, just further along the beach, get back in the Warthog and I'll show you where it is."

" That's rather lucky, isn't it?" I added

" Yes, yes it is." Cortana jokingly replied.

Chief simply shrugged.

"Will, let's go."

I nodded, and we left the structure. I hopped back on the turret, and readied for more. Chief hopped behind the wheel, and we drove back down the hill.

**XXxXxXxXxX**

The security station was more or less the same design as the first structure containing the cartographer, however the way in was much longer, requiring us to walk up a hill, and through what appeared to be a landing zone, before entering the structure. Driving near the hill, there were two large trees blocking the pathway, so we had to go on foot. Dismounting the warthog, Chief and I moved up the hill silently, trying not to arouse any attention to the Covenant, who were sure to be up there. On the top, I scanned the area, looking to see what we were up against. There were two hunters, several Major Elites, leading a group of Grunts and Jackals.

"You think we can handle them?" I asked Chief.

"Definitely. We should take them out quietly; hopefully we can leave the hunters for last. Knife at the ready."

"It's always ready." I deadpanned.

" Very funny." Cortana added.

Chief said nothing as we quietly separated. I moved left, he moved right.

Moving behind a lone grunt, taking a nap, I snapped its neck, and put it in the bushes. I saw Chief on the other side, but he same position, slitting a Jackal's throat with his knife. Moving forward, we took out two Elites, along with half the grunts and jackals. As I moved to an Elite major, he turned suddenly, and growled, before raising the alarm.

The element of surprise gone, I pulled out my rifle, and forced the Major into cover. Chief took advantage of the distraction to kill several more silently, before he too pulled out his Assault rifle, opening fire on the nearest grunt, shredding it. I charged at the Elite Major, opening fire, and managed to punch through its shields on the fifth shot, blowing half its head off. It hit the ground, with a roar of pain, as the Hunters finally alerted to our presence. I dove to the side, as a Fuel rod burst cleanly missed me, hitting the trees behind and turning it into splinters. Grabbing a plasma grenade from the corpse of one of the grunts, I lobbed it, sticking it onto on of the Hunters; it made a guttural, low rumbling noise before the grenade detonated, blowing the Hunter back several feet. Alive but barely, it staggered to its feet. The remaining aliens opened fire, draining my shields and forcing me back. Chief moved forward, heading towards my position, opening fire as he did so. Three more fell under his rifle, as he ran towards my position. The two hunters continued to open fire, but they weren't smart enough to lead their shots, so as long as we kept moving we were fine. We focused on the first hunter, trying to land shots onto its fleshy underside. Chief tossed a frag grenade onto the bottom of it, forcing the hunter to turn around to block the explosion. As he did so, we both opened fire on its back, putting it down for good. The other hunter, screamed in fury and anger, and opened fire again and again before its cannon overcharged. I tossed a frag below it, which blew the Hunter into pieces. The final Grunts and Jackals proved little trouble for two super soldiers, and we soon were back on our way.

I reloaded, the spent casings on rolling around on the green grass. Chief did the same, as we continued onwards.

Within the structure, there was one opening, with dark hallways, and low lightning. My motion sensor showed several contacts, but I couldn't see a thing. Stealth Elites, the bastards were close. The ionizing glow of not one, but three swords came into view, as the group of Elites roared a deathly cry and charged.

"Oh Shit."

Chief snapped into action, spraying his bullets into one Elite, killing it. The other two charged at me, swinging as they did so. I weaved under a swing, and pumped several rounds into the unlucky alien's stomach. It fell back, but it wasn't safe yet. The other Elite swung forwards, and I moved right, but it struck a glancing blow on my side, taking my shields out. It followed this along with a kick, sending me sprawling to the floor. However, before it could finish me off. Chief took that one down with his rifle. He pivoted around to kill the final one, before extending a hand to pick me up.

"Thanks, we clear?"

"Yep."

Hopping to my feet, we walked over to the security room. Odd orbs and lights danced around the display, and it seemed almost organic, less artificial. There was a diagram of the ring itself, with thousands of pieces jutting out and in. There was a display at around chest level, and I reached out my hand to touch it. The panel made a chime, all of a sudden one part of the ring jutted forward.

"The door should be open now." Cortana told us.

" You do realize that, if the pieces represent parts, it shows us how large the ring actually is." I quipped

" True. We'd better head out, Cartographer won't find itself." Cortana replied. Chief said nothing, as usual.

As we walked out of the structure, a panicked voice screamed into our helmets.

"Mayday, MAYDAY! Dropship Bravo 022 is taking enemy fire! We're under fire, and losing altitude!"

"Hold on, we're on our way."

Two Elites hefting plasma rifles charged at the both of us, and they were put down with relative ease. For Elites anyway. After we dispatched them, I heard a loud boom outside. Rushing out, we saw the wreckage of Bravo 022. Rockets, ammunition, and med-packs littered the area. A warthog, upturned on its side also lay there, intact though. It was a miracle it survived.

"Bravo 022 was carrying heavy weapons, after I saw the opposition we were against, I figured you might need it. Head down to the beach, we can salvage the cargo. "

Chief was about to turn back the way we came when I tapped him on the shoulder.

"Hm?"

"We're on a sloped hill, we can slide down from there. We also save lots of time, and avoid the Aliens that are probably waiting for us back there."

"True, not bad. Let's go."

It seemed comical, two super soldiers sliding down a hill as if it were a slide. Walking towards the dead Marines, I quietly closed their eyes, and grabbed their dog tags. No matter who you were, it was never good to see a fellow soldier die. Chief salvaged several M41 rocket launchers, and tossed one over to me. I grabbed it with one hand, and hefted it. I had about 10 rounds, good enough. Chief grabbed a Battle Rifle from the wreckage, and readied it. I kept my trusty DMR. I refilled my grenades, and flipped over the warthog. Chief hopped on the back this time, as I took the wheel.

**XXxXxXxXxX**

"Hunters!" Chief yelled.

We'd just reached the top of the Cartographer, and the Covenant had reinforced them again.

I power slided, managing to avoid the two fuel rod bursts, and Chief laid into the two Hunters with his turret. The armor piercing rounds proved to be extremely effective, as the Hunters went down quickly.

"Damn, that turrets powerful." I joked.

"Definitely." Replied Chief.

Walking down, and past the pile of dead bodies we'd left beforehand. The door was open this time, and there was a fork past it. Moving right, it led to a huge opening. The structure stretched exponentially farther. And looking down, I couldn't even see where the bottom was. There was a piece of debris lying on the top of the platform we were standing on, and I kicked it off. It fell for a minute, before I heard a faint bonk of the metallic floor. Turning back, the only way forward now, was to push through, into the structure.

Sleeping grunts, and more dark hallways, which was a key theme of this Alien design. I snuck over to the sleeping ones, and snapped their necks. Chief hopped onto and Elite, and stabbed it with his Knife before it could yell a warning. The room was clear for only a second, before a door opened, and two surprised jackals looked at us for a split second, before opening fire. I dodged the shots, but was pushed back slightly. I popped a jackal in the leg with my rifle, and in shock, the reptile let its guard down, allowing Chief to deliver a double tap with his rifle to the chest. Following up with a frag, which blew up the rest of the Jackals, the element of surprise was gone. We continued where the Jackals had come, onto a sloped staircase, which led to the lower levels.

This time the Covenant was ready for us, opening fire the moment we came in. I took cover behind a pillar, and waited for an opening. Popping out, I put a round through a grunt that got too close, watching as it gurgled, and collapsed quickly. Chief was exchanging fire with an Elite holding a carbine, and I opened fire on the Elite, taking out its shields. It fell back, stunned, before Chief killed it by popping a three round burst into its chest. Rolling to another pillar, I took out 5 more grunts with precise headshots, watching them quickly collapse. Chief moved sideways, flanking the enemies, and caught the Jackal's by surprise. They had no chance to bring up their shields as Chief killed them all with one clip. Continuing along the room, I took in the surroundings. Artificial yet organic-like machinery was littered around the area, and everything had a glowing color.

It felt almost like we were in the stomach of an actual person, if the person was a robot. I walked past a hallway, and a fuel rod blasted less than a foot away from me, taking out my shields. Diving back into cover before the Hunter could land a kill shot, I waved at Chief and beckoned to his Rocket Launcher, which he slung from his back. He unslung the launcher, and walked to where I almost died. He turned, and emptied both barrels in two seconds, killing one hunter, and His partner charged at Chief knocking him off his feet and taking his shields out. It bent down, preparing to impale Chief with his spikes. This time, I unslung my rocket launcher, and fired at the Hunters side. The impact pushed the hunter backwards, and injured it profusely, knocking the hunter onto one leg. I fired once more, and killed him. I stretched out my hand, and helped Chief to his feet.

"Not going to be the first time I save you. Certainly won't be the last either."

"Thanks."

"Cortana, can I ask something?"

"Go ahead Six-er William."

"I know we've only gone on two missions, but could you at least tell me why you never mention all the enemy troops that we come across when you advise us?"

Chief grunted, in a passable imitation of a laugh.

"Well, I don't want to make you feel unnecessary. Besides, you have motion sensors telling you that there are enemy soldiers, and I wouldn't want to annoy you. Plus, you're smart, at least I hope you are."

*Sigh* "That's true."

"Anyways, move along down the corridor, there should be another slope leading down. After that, same type of hallway with another slope, that final slope should lead to the cartographer.

"Roger. Will, let's head out."

Nodding, we headed down the slope. With a hiss, the door slid open. As we watched through, the COM keyed on," Foehammer to ground team, you got three Covie dropships closing in fast!" the hallway we were in currently had no walls, and the celling was the clear blue sky above us. Below, was an endless abyss? I had no idea how to tell. I nudged Chief, and told him to watch his step. He simply nodded, as we continued to monitor our allies radio chatter.

Gunnery Sergeant Stacker, the soldier in charge of the LZ, drawled in with his sharp voice. "Okay boys, we got some company bringing the ruckus. Engage enemy forces on sight."

Cortana advised," it may be easier if you could hold them off from inside the structure. Can you get in, Sergeant?"

Stacker's voice, rising to a shout this time replied," Negative, the bastards are already here! We'll handle them Cortana, just finish whatever the hell you're doing."

"Give them hell Gunny." I told Stacker, and then broke the connection.

"We'd better hurry Chief, or we could get overrun."

"Roger that."

We pushed down the slope, and into the dark hallways beyond. After a few minutes of walking through hallways, footbridges, and small hatches, we came across a control panel, with a group of troops defending it. I tossed a grenade, which took out most of the group, wounding the last Elite, while Chief finished him with a quick burst.

The holopanel glowed a bright blue, and hummed, as if beckoning us to come towards it.

"There!" Cortana said, "That should be the control panel."

"Any idea how to open it?"

"Nope."

Chief took several steps forward, and warily tapped the panel. The panel exploded in a plethora of light, and a glowing wire-like map floated above us.

"Analyzing," Said the smart AI." Halo's Control Center is-" she highlighted a point on the map on our HUDs-" Over here. It looks like a sort of shrine."

I quizzically asked Chief," How did you know that was the button?"

" I didn't."

I laughed, as we continued back up.

Walking back the way we came, it was clear until the third floor. The Covenant must have regrouped to try and stop us from evacuating the area. I put down several grunts, and then reloaded to realize I was on my last mag. I finally unslung my rocket launcher.

A large exhaust trail followed my firing, and a group of Grunts and Elites exploded. A second rocket followed, bringing the rest down.

Chief looked at me, and then unslung his launcher too.

"Boys you'd better hurry, Foehammer has a 30 second window, and she's arriving in 2 minutes."

"Right. Double-time!"

We swiftly moved up the levels, using our rockets to great effect. However, we were running out of time.

"Chief, you've got 30 seconds to get over here before I have to pull out. Banshee's on my tail and they're getting closer!"

This time, we dropped our guns, and took off on a sprint. Dumping my rocket launcher, we ran as hard as our armored legs could go, weaving, and dodging our way through plasma bolts at the same time. Finally we hit daylight, and Foehammer's Pelican waited for us. We ran, with what seemed like an army behind us. Chief made to hop on the Pelican, and I grabbed a covenant carbine to give him some cover. The bolts scattered the charging Covenant and Chief hopped on. He stretched out his hand as I dropped the gun, running. The Pelican slowly rose and was about to fly away…

"Jump for it!"

I threw myself forward, and hit the deck of the Pelican. I began to slide off, till a strong armored hand grabbed mine.

"Returning the favor." He said, and pulled me to my feet. I pulled my helmet off, and smiled.

"Thanks Chief."

We weren't out of it yet, as we headed straight for the Control room.

(A/N: Read, Review, Follow, general drill I guess. Thanks to arbiter6784 for proofreading.)


	8. FrostBite

**Chapter 5: Frostbite **

In a large hole in Halo's surface, a Pelican, carrying two super-soldiers, an AI, and an excellent pilot went down through a large tunnel. From what I heard from Cortana, apparently this tunnel was part of many others, almost like veins in a human body.

Sitting in the Pelican, I popped a couple of stims, just to keep my spirits up. Running a couple of diagnostics, I checked my suit integrity, just to make sure there was no problem with the shield systems or anything. Chief was meditating, or whatever he was doing, simply sitting and looking towards the ground.

Cortana added, with a tint of humor in her voice," Oh, by the way, this place is packed with Covenant Will. Just so you know."

"Very funny."

The hatch popped open several seconds after that, and a grunt yelped in surprise as it noticed the both of us descending. I pulled up my DMR, and the Grunt said nothing more. Chief pulled an Assault Rifle from the hatch, and attached several grenades to his belt. The Pelican finally touched ground, and we hopped off.

Foehammer pinged us, " Good Luck you two, I'd rather be up here, than down there. Foehammer out."

The Pelican slowly rose upwards, heading back to the surface. From the landing point, there was a maze of more tunnels and staircases that led to the ground, which led to the outside, which finally led to the Control Center. This was the closest drop off point. Several fire-teams had already been taken out on their descent, and we hoped that we could help some survivors. We walked towards the first door, and it hissed open, leading to the beyond.

Like the dead Grunt before it, the rest were asleep, dreaming of what Grunts did. The room forked apart, before aligning together. Chief and I split, one left, one right. I pulled up my Combat Knife, holding it like an icepick as I advanced towards a group of the sleepers. One, two, three, all throats were slit, as I headed towards the bend. Chief was less subtle, opting to snap their necks quickly. The final one let up a strangled cry as he snapped his neck. It hadn't hit the floor before I met Chief, nodding. He beckoned towards the next door, but this one headed towards the staircase.

Down to the staircase, this room opened up to a giant area, with rises and falls, and a staircase at the end, which led to a bridge on the outside. This room however, was filled with alert Jackals, Elites, and Grunts, all eyes that pointed at us the moment we came in.

Cortana smartly quipped," This is happening a lot don't you think?"

I took a couple hits, draining my shields as my DMR rang in unison with the plasma bolts, piercing several Grunts bodies as they hit the ground writhing. Chief opened fire with his Assault Rifle, breaking an Elites shields, and pierced its helmet. He lobbed a frag grenade over a Jackal phalanx, and the resulting detonation blew them apart. My shields recharged, and I opened fire on two Elites, killing one, and draining the other's shields. The survivor, a crimson armored Elite drew a Sword, and charged. I tried to land a kill shot, and the gun jammed.

Drawing my pistol, I squeezed off two rounds before the Elite swung forward. The two rounds served to stun the Elite. I put my foot between his two wide feet, and emptied my clip into its face. Reloading, and popping back into cover, I moved to unjam my DMR. Chief was firing off rounds as fast as he could, pushing the Covenant back towards the room. Once they were all together, I lobbed a grenade, killing them all. I pulled a bullet from the DMR, which was jamming it, and we moved on.

Cortana keyed the COM, and half spoke to herself, and half talked to us as she said," The Covenant presence here is stronger than I anticipated. They seem to have the entire region secured."

The door opened, and a flurry of snowflakes whooshed in. We walked outside, and took a look at the scene outside. Snow rained heavily, akin to the strongest blizzard, and snow fell onto my helmet. Brushing it off, amidst the raging winds. I saw mountains, with ragged rocks, capped off with white fluff from the snow. We were standing on the roof of a large structure, and it felt so out of place. It almost seemed as if a bunch of aliens had decided to take shelter within a winter wonderland. I sighed, enjoying the cold weather, altering the temperature controls so I could feel a bit more cooling in the suit. Chief saw me fiddling with my controls, and asked," Editing the temperature controls? Never done that before."

"Yeah, I always try to adapt to the temperature, so if the helmet or the suit doesn't work, I'll be fine."

"Never thought of it that way, my suit's always fine."

"You won't think of it like that if you wear a SPI suit in the middle of a heat wave."

"SPI?"

"Think of a cheap MJOLNIR which doesn't work."

" Never knew what the three's-

Cortana butted in, loudly," I hate to break up the chitchat, but Covenant inbound on the other side of the bridge!"

The conversation instantly stopped, as we snapped into battle ready position. Sighting on my scope, I could see several Shades being set up, and more troops pouring in. They hadn't noticed yet, and I waited for the Shade to get set up, before popping the grunt controller in the head. The blizzard ensured the cracks from my Rifle would not be heard. Chief followed along, taking out several before they could notice us. An Elite, looking around, and warbling in alien tongue, looked around for the assailant, and put himself behind the Shade, ensuring it wouldn't be killed. Moving forward slowly, I headed towards the Shade, and the Covenant troop behind it. Foregoing stealth, I opted to grab the Elite, pulling him to the floor, and crushing its neck with my boot. Chief continued moving onwards, and noticed the bridge was much longer than they originally thought. It stretched for a while, before it finally went back into the structure.

A Spirit up ahead dropped off several troops, and a pair of Hunters, which began to advance towards our position. I opened fire with my DMR, picking off an Elite, which was acting a bit too aggressive. Chief was on my left, throwing grenades towards the Hunters, to try and knock them off the platform. While the explosion didn't budge the Hunters, a Grunt and Jackal got thrown off, screaming as they did. The two Hunters continued advancing, amidst the constant stream of bullets hitting them.

Chief opted to spray, and the troops behind the hunters collapsed as the shredder rounds punched through them. Focusing on the Hunters, I rolled a grenade, trying to time it so the detonation would occur under them. I didn't have that problem, as the behemoth slipped on the grenade, stumbling to the floor. The explosion served to push the Hunter off the edge, and that was one down. The second one continued moving forward, this time in anger putting down its shield to go faster. However this served as a death sentence as Chief emptied his clip into the fleshy underside. The giant went down, groaning as the orange worms 'leaked' blood and gore from the insides.

Moving forward yet again, a door cracked open, and Jackals poured out. However, these ones were different, more reptilian, and all the more scarier. Skirmishers. I'd faced those Bastards back on Reach, and they were tough to fight. Weaker than Elites, but moving a hell of a lot faster, these guys were pretty dangerous. Chief's voice came over my COM.

" Will, those Jackals don't look normal."

" Yeah, faced them on Reach, army calls them Skirmishers, think of a fast Jackal."

" Surprised I never met them before."

" They rarely deploy them, seems we killed out most of their species in the war."

" Not enough."

My DMR served to take out the Skirmishers quickly. Chief decided to opt out using the Assault Rifle, using his M6 to land quick headshots. The ones that were left screeched, and hopped forward, strafing left and right as I did so. A Skirmisher tackled me, and clawed at my helmet. Kicking him off, I shot it in the face. Chief was met with the same predicament, and he threw the unlucky alien off the roof. No rest for the wicked, as the reptiles continued charging at us, peppering us with plasma pistol fire as they did so. Several lagged behind with needle rifles, and took potshots.

"Will, take out the sharpshooters with your DMR, I got the rest!" Reloading, I checked that I still had a full clip, and then opened fire. A Jackal hit the floor, bleeding from the chest and stomach, and another went down from a quick headshot before the others opened fire on me. The Needle Rifles hit and exploded, taking out my shields. A shrill warning rang out in my helmet, and I moved behind a Covenant arms locker, waiting for my shields to recharge. Looking back, I saw Chief take on several at a time; three fell to the ground before Chief pulled out his pistol, not skipping a beat. More fell, and one jumped for his helmet. A swift pistol whip served to knock it out.

The Skirmishers dealt with, the bridge back in was finally clear. Checking my weapons, I reloaded, and Chief did the same. Cortana hummed to herself, as she did god knows what. Popping back into the structure, I'd just realized there was temperature control within the structure. The temperature was a cool, perfect temperature, and it gave a small insight into what the alien constructor's bodies could handle.

**XXxXxXxXxX**

After several more easy fights with a small platoon of Grunts and Jackals, we emerged on the bottom. With a 'putsch' the door cracked open, leading to the cold, and beyond.

The mountains, much larger at ground level loomed over us with their craggy peaks, looking monstrous and menacing, and the Covenant presence helped give the area an extremely bad appearance. Two Ghosts whirred over to our position, and hosed the area with plasma fire. Pinned down behind cover, I waved at Chief for suppressing fire. He popped out; firing short bursts with his rifle as I charged forward towards a Ghost. The pilot, a low-ranking grunt was too busy focusing on trying to exterminate Chief; he didn't notice me hopping on the side.

I punted him off, and manned the ghost, crushing him under my wheels. I charged it up, and punched into the other ghost, hosing it with plasma fire as I did so. The driver caught a stray bullet, and hit the deck. Chief manned this ghost, as we continued onwards. Cortana put in a bit of information to help us.

"Interesting… the weather patterns here are more natural rather than artificial. Its either the ring's weather functions are malfunctioning, or its builders actually intended for this ring to have inclement weather."

In front of us, a platoon of marines and an overturned warthog lay in the snow. The Marines were exchanging fire with several Covenant soldiers, and one Elite noticed us. His distraction proved fatal, as a Marine took the advantage to toss a grenade under him. The detonation blew the Elite into pieces, and we took the advantage to finish the rest of the disorganized troops off. I sprung a DMR, my bursts hitting their marks easily, as grunt after grunt hit the floor. Chief finished off the rest. However, our gunfire must have drawn others over, as a Wraith appeared into view from around the corner, and began lobbing plasma mortars.

"Marine's, let the Spartans handle this one! Get the wraith to focus on us, let the Spartans kill it." The Sergeant in control, by the name of one Pavel Klaus yelled. I smirked through my helmet as his company took potshots at the wraith, trying to get its attention. The bullets wouldn't do much, but they definitely helped as Chief and I gunned towards the alien tank, opening fire with plasma as we did so. The ionized bullets slagged and melted the armor beneath as the tank struggled to turn to face us. Our Ghosts were too nimble as we dodged its slow firing shells, and a stray bullet hit the back engine. The tank detonated with a giant blue flame, and I could hear the screams of the pilot's as they slowly burnt to a crisp. With a sigh of satisfaction, we drove back to the Marines, who were trying to flip the Warthog. Chief hoped off, signaled the Marines to move back, and put both his hands on the bottom.

"No way is he going to lift it all on his own, no way." A Marine pointed out.

"You obviously haven't seen a Spartan before." Sergeant Klaus put in as with a grunt; Chief wrenched the Warthog right-side up. The disbelieving Marine was flabbergasted as Chief turned to us, not even breaking a sweat, and getting back on his Ghost. I followed suit as the Marine's got onto their Warthog. We had to move farther along the mountains, they would lead to the control center.

Sergeant Klaus yelled from the passenger to his marines, packed into the Warthog," Weapons hot boys! Drive it like you stole it." His platoon broke into laughter as we continued moving along.

"This is Fire team Zulu requesting immediate backup! Our Scorpion's taking fire and can't take much more of it! Anyone out there, we need immediate assistance. This is PFC Ryan and our CO is down! Any UNSC forces respond, over!"

"This is Cortana, we're coming Marines, just hold on."

" Surprised there were still Marine teams holding out. We'd better get there soon."

Boosting over a small crest, we saw the battle that took place in front of us. A scorpion tank was playing a game of cat and mouse with another wraith tank, and around them, marines in warthogs played a deadly game of chess with Ghosts, which circled the area. A Gold elite piloting a revenant commanded the troops, while the de-facto commander of the Marines was PFC Ryan, who was the one who extended the call to Cortana earlier.

Chief commanded, "Will, take the Ghosts, and the Shades, I got the Tank"

"No problem Chief."

"Sergeant Klaus! Take out the infantry, I'll try and take out the Ghosts."

"Yes Sir! You heard the man, Let's give these pansies a warm welcome!"

I went straight for the leader, opening fire with the main bolts. He roared, and tried to dodge the shots as best he could, lobbing the small pink versions of the Wraith shots as close as he could to me. One landed beside me, and drained my shields. I could swear the Elite was smiling as he continued to rain mortars near me. Suddenly, machine gun fire roared in the distance, and the Elite toppled off, dead. I looked over to see my savior, and saw a bunch of Marines hefting SAWs waving at me. I waved back, and engaged the Ghosts. Weaving left and right, I slammed into one, and emptied bullets into the bumper in front. The grunt pilot squeaked in fear, and did the same 'till I cocked my pistol and shot it in the head. The pilotless vehicle veered to the side, then lay motionless. Using my pistol to great effect, I took down all the Grunt pilots, leaving the Ghosts intact. I looked to Chief, and I saw a smoking wraith, and Chief on foot walking towards the Marines, who'd cleaned out the rest of the infantry.

"Area clear Chief, what do we do now?"

"Let's use the tank."

**XXxXxXxXxX**

The Scorpion tank was a God-given gift, and no one thanked it more than the Marines in the UNSC. Ghosts, Wraiths, nothing could withstand the high velocity cannon of the M808B battle tank. Finally, we were on what seemed to be a road, and the snow raged on around us. There were two Warthogs behind us, and we led the cavalry towards the structure.

"Cortana, we on the right track?" I asked

"Yep, control room should be in the structure around 10 clicks from here." She replied.

"Chief, catch." Tossing him a small audio disc, I threw it over my head into the cockpit. Chief caught it, and looked it over.

Cortana's voice came over, "It's a retro track from the 2010's."

"Put it on Chief, it calms me down just before a battle."

I heard a click as Chief inserted it into the slot on his helmet.

"Not bad."

Several more minutes of silence commenced, as we looked around at the raging snow behind us.

I wistfully spoke over my COM to break the silence, saying." The cold reminds me of when I was a baby."

Chief replied," Was it always cold where you lived?"

"Yeah, it was always cold, summer wasn't a word in our dictionary."

"I'm sorry, was?"

"Yeah, the Covenant invaded when I was 6 years old. I lived within the outer colonies, and we were one of the first ones taken. It's a long story, and we've arrived already." My voice drew to a whisper, as I remembered what happened. As a child, I remembered the blistering cold, and some small memories of having fun at school with friends, but the one strongest memory of my childhood was the invasion. It stands out like a sheet of flame in my memory, and I never forgot.

"Will, are you all right?" Chief's voice, tinged with concern asked me.

"Yeah, I'm okay."

"Okay then. We're there already, but we need to head there on foot."

As we got off, I saw Chief giving me an odd look, before continuing onwards. I wondered what was going on in his head.

**Chief's POV *****start*******

I looked at Will, but I couldn't read anything from him. Granted that Spartans didn't show much emotion, I wasn't surprised. Opening up a private channel to Cortana, I asked.

"Cortana, do you know what happened to Will?"

"I got a bit curious, and I checked out his file while you two were fighting. His file is covered in black ink; I don't know what happened to him. If you want to find out, you're going to have to find out yourself."

"I plan to."

**Chief's POV *End***

**XXxXxXxXxX**

Chief looked at me, and waved me onwards. After several more battles within hatches, and other small structures that we steadily cleared out, we stood in front of the base of a large pyramid, with several layers of Covenant defending it.

"Entrance to the control center is at the top of the pyramid, you should be fine on the way up, and two Spartans can handle quite a lot." Cortana said.

" That we can." I laughed.

" Move up. " Chief ordered.

Using my armored gloves, I slowly pulled myself up, trying to avoid the small rocks and stones that were falling onto my faceplate. Shaking the dust and dirt off, I pulled myself over the edge, checking to see what opposition faced is. One hunter, unaware of our position patrolled the area. I grabbed a fragmentation grenade, and threw it down. It exploded with a loud 'PING' and served to piss it off. As it charged, Chief threw a plasma grenade, which fused itself to its armor plating. Firing a fuel rod cannon before its demise, it narrowly zipped over our heads. Through my helmet I could feel the hairs on my head prickle slightly. We both knew there was a second one somewhere around us. So we slowly edged around. Sure enough, there was number two, completely oblivious to the fact that his companion was dead. The snowstorm must have drowned out the sound of the grenade detonation. I spontaneously waved towards Chief, and told him to wait. Crawling up, I sneaked around the hunter so is unprotected back was showing. With a quick whistle, it turned around, and growled in surprise. It was about to take a step forward before it hit the ground. I ran forward while it was on the floor, and pushed it off the pyramid. Chief crawled up, and nodded at me.

Continuing onwards, the Covenant realized that they were being invaded, and began blind firing downwards towards us. So instead of just avoiding the occasional space-rock, there were now plasma bolts and shots to dodge. I adopted a zigzagging technique, while Chief opted to let the bolts slam into him, as his shields seemed to be able to take it. The occasional banshee threw potshots at us. One stupid banshee got a bit too close, and couldn't avoid crashing into the pyramid. Hissing and sputtering, it wobbly flew a bit father away before exploding. I laughed as we continued the struggle upwards, expending more ammo as we continued upwards.

At the top, I checked my ammo, and noticed I was on my last two clips. Chief was on his last. Cortana advised," You two better conserve. I see a shade over there, you might need to use it." Stepping over the body of a dead Elite, I looked at the door in front of us. Huge, there was no telling what was in front of us, other than the fact that both our motion sensors went a bit mad when we got close.

"Let's put that shade to good use. Will, when I say go, hit the switch." Chief commanded as he walked over to the shade and hopped into it." Okay, hit it." I flicked the switch, and it was a turkey shoot. As soon as they came in, they died. Heading in, we entered a giant hangar-like room, with a couple Covenant stragglers, mostly Grunts and Jackals. I used the last of my DMR ammo putting them down, and then grabbed a Carbine from a dead Jackal. Chief still had a couple rounds with his Assault Rifle.

I activated the next set of doors as Cortana told us," All Covenant forces have been eliminated for the area. Well done boys, the Control Center is in the next room, Let's go."

In a simple word, majestic was the way to describe what was before us. An immense platform, a titanic bridge, freestanding as defiance to physics extended over a giant walkway, falling to god knows where. At the end, a circular walkway stood a holo-model of the system we were in, the Threshold system. Suspended between a giant gas giant and its slightly smaller moon, was the Halo ring. Beyond the walkway, floating in the air was a giant model of Halo, stretching what seemed to be thousands of feet long.

There wasn't a railing, and it reminded me of the dangers of this place. Wherever the hell you go, all you see was danger in this place. Despite the beauty, it was more like a dystopia than a utopia.

"This is it…Halo's Control Center." Cortana said as we approached a large panel at the center of the giant center walkway. It was filled with alien glyphs, all glowing and gleaming, and floating together and away like a piece of abstract art. I whistled, joking to Chief." Trippy." He looked at me, quietly shaking his head, but I heard a bit of laughter from his helmet. He simply swiped two fingers across his helmet, the Spartan smile.

"Tap that terminal." Cortana told us. Tapping the symbol, I saw Chief stiffen, as Cortana ported herself into the alien station. She then appeared in place of the giant Halo ring, herself giant. Energy radiated across her skin, and she had a pleasured expression across her face. Her 'skin' shifted from blue, to purple, to red, and backwards as she looked around the room. Chief inquired," Are you okay?" We weren't expecting that. Cortana eased his worries when she replied," Never better! You can't imagine the wealth of information-its fast, its glorious!"

He then replied," So, what sort of weapon is Halo?"

"What are you talking about?" Replied the now surprised AI.

"Stay focused Cortana, how do we use Halo against the Covenant?"

Cortana had a mask of disdain on her face as she stared at the both of us." This ring isn't a cudgel, you barbarian, it's something else, something much more important. The Covenant were right, this ring.."

She stopped for a couple seconds, as you saw her eyes flit around the room, as she scanned what had to be a huge amount of information and data. Confused, she said to herself "Forerunner, give me a sec to access…"

A second later, her words rushed out like a tidal wave," Yes, the Forerunners built this place, they called it a fortress world, in order to-"

I could tell Chief was going to ask her about why she called him a 'barbarian', so I clapped a hand on his shoulder. "Chief, she wouldn't be like this if she didn't have a reason behind it." He looked at me, and then nodded plainly. But before he could talk to me, Cortana's voice echoed to us. "No, that can't be, those covenant idiots… they had to have known, there must have been signs!"

" Wait wait wait, slow down… you're losing me." Chief frowned.

Her eyes widened in horror." The Covenant found _something, _buried in this ring, something_ horrible._ Now they're afraid."

"Buried?" I asked.

Her eyes looked far away, as if she could actually see what was going on. "Captain Keyes, we've got to stop him, the cache he's looking for, we can't let him get in. it's not really…"

"I'm sorry, I don't understand Cortana." I continued asking her.

Her voice rose to a shout, as she told us. "There's no time!" Her eyes flashed neon pink, and to a blood red as she focused on Chief and I like lasers. " I have to stay here. Get out, find Keyes and stop him. Go NOW!"

We took off immediately, rattled by the concern in her voice.

On the way Chief pinged his COM," Foehammer we need immediate pickup to Captain Keyes location. There's something wrong." In hindsight, 'something wrong' became the understatement of the year.

**(A/N: Allright, end of another chapter, tell me what you think! As per usual, read, review, enjoy!)**


	9. The Nightmare Hole

**Chapter 6: The Nightmare Hole**

We sat in the Pelican, helmets off and chewing on MRE's, as it headed towards the supposed weapons cache where Keyes was last seen. The hatch was open as we saw the landscape below us. Among snow, sand, and swamp, there were giant structures, which echoed construction similar to the previous ones we fought in. This place held many secrets. We were sitting next to each other, and we sat in silence.

Out of the blue, Chief asked me, "What happened to you?"

"How could you tell?"

"There's something in your eyes."

"Only Spartans can see other Spartans emotions. Yeah, there is something going on in my mind. It's never left. "

"What was it?"

"My family."

**XXxXxXxXxX**

I lived on the world of New Istanbul, the son of bankers. Leaning within the border of the outer and inner colonies, it carried all the safety of the inner colonies, with the peaceful, non-intrusion of the outer colonies. The country I lived in was constantly snowing, coating all in the vicinity with a beautiful white mist. It was a peaceful life, as far as I remembered, until they came.

I was six years old when they came. Coming home from school, it seemed a fine day. With a goodbye to friends, I took the short walk home. I remembered watching the sky slowly gray, and thought "hmm, must be raining soon." I began to hurry as I saw the white picket fence, and the calming cream-colored shine of my childhood home. I knew something was wrong when I saw my mother crying.

"Mommy, what's wrong?"

"Honey, I need you to go inside, and wait for daddy to come home. Can you do that for me sweetheart?"

"Okay."

I believe I was rather bright as a child, but I didn't want to impose on my mothers' apparent distress, so I obeyed. After several minutes, my father came home, his face set like stone. Ushering me out of the living room, and upstairs to our bedroom, I stood on the staircase, silently watching as my mother hugged my father, tears streaming down her face. He returned the hug, and then looked at her, his eyes steely.

"Jill (my mother's first name), they're here. We need to get to the evacuation points now."

"Why now? Why here Chandler (Dad's name)?"

"We knew this was going to happen. It was inevitable."

Oddly enough, I'd never heard of the Covenant back then. It was whispered by the adults may have been coming, but they didn't want the kids to be scared, so they obviously didn't tell us. To us children, an alien was only to be seen in movies, or sci-fi video games to be played, laughed at and then forgotten. Not anymore.

After packing the bare essentials like clothes, and food, I was pulled by my crying mother from the steps of our beautiful home, and out onto the street. Our father led the way, and we ran as we did so. The town we lived in was small, but close, as the entire town seemed to have begun the evacuation at the same time. I saw people I knew only in passing when my mother would take me out. People like the local pastor, my fathers' colleagues, and the odd school friend, as most lived in the city. I don't remember their names. What I remember was the crowd stopping. I pushed and slid my way to the front, and saw the sight.

It was the first Covenant warship I'd ever seen. The giant purple warship glassed the city of _Regalia, _and its beams turned everything into ash. Fire and brimstone raged about the city, as it looked like a monument to hell itself. The heat emanated from the city, and I could almost feel it. People beside and behind me had looks of sheer horror on their faces as they watched what had once been a proud home be destroyed. I saw pelican's attempt to escape, fire on their tails as they tried a futile attempt to leave the hell that surrounded them. None made it as bolts from phantoms slammed into them, driving them into the ground, and causing giant explosions. The superheated plasma charred the hulls of the pelicans all the way to their skeletal underbodies, and several got so close that I could hear the screams of the pilot, as they burnt to a crisp, unable to avoid their impending deaths. It was all so shocking to a young child, who'd never seen violence of this scale till now. I couldn't speak, much less cry as I stood there and watched the destruction.

A phantom must have spotted the crowd, as I remembered the eerie hum of the phantom as it came towards us. Then there was an explosion, and I woke up in complete carnage. My father carried me in his arms, and my mother was next to us we ran. Blood streaked across my face, and I saw my father had a hole in his shoulder, while my mother looked shaken, and her clothes tattered, but otherwise fine. I heard the screams of people, and strange guttural noises as I was carried through the madness. I looked to my left, and saw bodies lying on the floor, with holes in their heads and chest. I looked to my right, and saw scorched homes, and burnt out carcasses of cars, and what looked like people still in them. I looked up to see a blood-red night sky. I looked to my dad, and asked him," Will we be okay?"

"We'll always be okay son." He replied, but his eyes betrayed him. He was terrified. I said nothing, instead opting to lean into my father for comfort. Suddenly, I saw olive drab uniform come into my vision. We'd arrived at the evac point. Marines hefting assault rifles stood guard as people flooded into the Pelicans. There was one left. People began pushing and shoving, as my father held me above the crowd, and moved everyone in his way, out of the way. When we got in front of the Pelican, a marine stopped us.

"We've got no more room! You're going to have to wait for the next one!"

"Bullshit! There is no next one, let us on this Pelican!"

"Listen, I want to let you in, but if you get in there, this Pelican isn't going to take off!"

"You're kidding? You're going to let us all die here!"

"Buddy, You're not the only one being left behind, what about me and my buddies? It's a suicide mission! We just need to wait and hope they'll come back for us!"

"At least take my son! That's all that matters!"

"Goddamnit…Fine, take him on!"

My father put me down from his arms, and kissed me on my forehead.

"Son, know that me and your mother will always love you." I began to cry, as I knew that my parents weren't going to follow me. "Don't cry son. Be brave for me, be brave for me and your mother." Explosions and bolts got closer and closer towards us as the Covenant advanced. My father put me on the pelican, and waved, this time with a small tear in his eye. My mother was uncontrollably crying, and I gained a huge feeling of helplessness, knowing I could never help her. That was all I got to see in detail as the Pelican lifted off. I looked who sat next to me, then realized almost all were children. Looking out again, I could pick out the small shapes of my father and mother standing at the front of the line. I began to shake uncontrollably, and the last thing I heard before I fainted was my fathers' voice. "Be brave son, be brave for me."

**XXxXxXxXxX**

"I never knew what happened to them. From the information I'd gathered, I was one of the last transports to escape New Istanbul. After spending several days in a UNSC ship, I was asked by a man if I wanted to take revenge on the people who'd destroyed my home. I signed up immediately."

Chief was quiet throughout my entire retelling of the story. And after I finished, he looked at me, and quietly nodded. He put a hand on my shoulder, and said nothing.

"It was a long time ago. It's still a scar, and it always will be. The other S-III's all have the same ghosts." I softly said.

Chief spoke this time, speaking quietly." I'm sorry Will. Thank you for telling me."

I nodded, letting the memories slowly wash away again.

Foehammer came over the speakers in the cargo hold of the Pelican. "Chief, Six, We're getting close to Keyes last location. Might wanna prep."

I popped my helmet on, as Chief did the same.

It was time to get off, as I grabbed an Assault Rifle from the top. Chief grabbed an Assault Rifle, and we both stocked up on grenades. The low hum of the Pelicans engines hovered over the swamp, and we jumped off, with a large squelch. The muddy water pooled over my boots, as we walked forward.

Foehammer called us, "Call me when you've found the Captain, I'll head back to Alpha base for now."

I replied," Thanks, we'll do that."

"Good luck out there, Foehammer out."

The last friendly force in the area left us, leaving just chief, and I. Time for a walk in the park. The air seemed seven-eighths' water, and the smell of it didn't help. Annoying drones filled the air, probably from the wildlife around, but for now the motion-sensors were clear. Lieutenant Ambrose and Mendez constantly drilled into our mindsets to 'make friends with your environment'. The slight rise uphill from our landing fit into the bill completely. I'd always wondered what it would be like to serve with a Spartan-II like the Lieutenant, and now I got my chance. With a bird eye view of the area, we could see past the foliage and muck of the jungle and see where the Captain and his men had gone.

A downed Pelican lay no farther than sixty meters from our position, and Foehammer must have not seen the wreckage due to the dense foliage.

"Six, let's get a little closer." Chief commanded.

"Pelican dropped them off right? So what are these guys doing here?"

"Advance team? Second team? Wait; didn't foehammer say something about a second squad that vanished?" Chief replied.

"Damn. Guess this was what happened to em." I replied.

A sense of foreboding coming, I hoped that the Captain wasn't among the marine corpses near and around the crash site. Coming down the hill, and inspecting the wreckage, it seemed like the Pelican had crashed on takeoff. All the dead wore a naval insignia, thus they couldn't have been Marines. Be it mechanical failure, or enemy fire, they were taken down. Grabbing their dog tags, we were about to leave when I saw the inside of the Pelican had a weapons crate inside.

"Chief, weapons." I spoke, as I waved him over. Two M90 Shotguns neatly stacked in them, and we grabbed a healthy amount of ammo, and the two shotguns. Made sense having the extra firepower. Cocking it, I strapped them both behind my back. The appearance of 2 weapons on a Spartan must have been intimidating. Moving on, we noticed a couple of Covenant-style work lights. Following them, we came across a second wreck, this time of Covenant origin. Grunts, Jackals, and finally several Spec-Ops Elites lay around the area, dead.

"Check the bodies, we might find out if Keyes had passed here." I suggested to Chief.

Checking the bullet marks, we both realized that they'd been killed not by UNSC weapons, but _Plasma fire_.

"Chief, any clue on why they seem to be killed with their own tech?" I quipped.

"Defectors? Humans carrying plasma weapons, no explanation really fits does it?" He replied.

"No, no it doesn't. Let's keep following the boot trail. Maybe we'll pick up his signal."

Dropping the dead Elite back on the ground, we continued moving. We came across a lone Jackal, seemingly uninterested watching the path in front of us, his back turned. Chief looked and me, and cocked his head towards the reptile. I strode over, and slit its throat. The bird gurgled, scrabbled at its neck for a second, before it slunk to the forest floor. Wiping off my knife, we continued moving.

Rain started falling, causing the swamp water level to slowly rise, sloshing against our boots. Following the trail of boot prints, we came across a circle of cargo containers. Were the Covenant transporting things, and if so, what? Also, given the amount of work-lights, the crashed phantom, and now the cargo containers, we expected more than a lone Jackal.

This question was answered quickly, as we came across a Jackal patrol. Hefting their energy shields, they walked cautiously and carefully.

"Chief, flank them." I whispered.

Nodding, he climbed over several rocks, and out of sight. When he was in position, he winked a green light to me. I jumped out of cover, opening fire with my Assault rifle. The bullets pinged off its shields causing them to fall back, right into the Chief's hands. 2 bursts from his rifle put them down, and we continued onwards. We hoped the rain would mask our gunfire, but it was too loud, as our motion sensors recorded more enemies coming our way. I swapped to my shotgun, and pumped it.

Five shotgun shells, and one MA5 clip later, the Covenant lay on the ground, bodies smoking. The boot prints went into the forest, and as we walked, the broad big leaves brushed our shoulders, and had I not been wearing armor, I would have shivered from the cold touch. They weren't in the forest long, as it broke off into the entrance of a large complex.

"This place looks like the Cartographer doesn't it? Look over there!" I studied, and then noticed something. Several shotgun shells, a chocolate bar wrapper, and a sweet-William cigar lay on the ground. An UNSC-grade code-breaker was plastered at the entrance. We had to be getting close. As we entered the complex, the door shut with a mechanical hiss, and locked. Chief looked at me, and joked for the first time I'd seen.

"Well, I guess there's no way to go but forward."

"Ha-Ha." I deadpanned

With a method of construction not unlike the hallways we'd previously traversed through, this place was indeed of more Forerunner construction. It was getting to be obvious, as nearly everything on the ring had been from their doing. We walked through several more doors twisting left and right, until he hit a lift. I hit the button, and the lift whirred upwards. Instantly, my motion sensor registered a blip of about 5 hostiles. They must have been coming up. Chief and I took up flanking positions on both sides of the lift.

"Throw it in 3…2…1…now." I spoke to myself.

Pulling the pin, I rolled it into the lift. 3 seconds later, a boom sounded, and we turned around from our cover. 3 mangled jackals and 2 grunts lay on the floor, clearly dead. We walked in, and hit the lift to go down.

"What do you think we'll find down there?" I asked Chief.

"I don't know. There's a reason they have the Covenant guarding this place though. "He curtly replied.

"Probably guarding the Captain." I said.

"That is true, but look at what was in the Truth and Reconciliation. They'd have much more people guarding it. " Chief asked.

"Well, I believe that Captain Keyes is down here, deep enough that his transponder won't work though. I think he just took an alternate path from us, considering the locked doors, and the unaware aliens." I then quipped.

Chief whistled, as this seemed to be the most logical answer.

The lift doors hissed open, as we found ourselves within a narrow, and rather short hallway. This one led to a locked door, with another code-breaker slapped onto it like gum. The hallways had paths to other places, but since this one had the code-breaker, we both figured that this had to be it. As I went to work on the code-breaker, a chilling noise was heard behind me. Chief and I drew our weapons, as we looked for any sign of trouble. A dull droning was heard, but other than that nothing was out of the ordinary. The sound made my hairs stand on end, and it was very uneasy. Going pack to work on the door I opened it…

Facing an M6 pistol barrel, directed straight towards my helmet. Chief strode through the door; weapon raised, and then slung it. It was a Marine, but he was ashen-faced, and crying. He was on his knees like he was praying, and he was muttering random incoherent gibberish I couldn't understand. Chief walked over to him, and suddenly he looked up, and started yelling.

"Are you? Are you one of them? Come to get me at last? You monsters, you goddamned monsters, you don't…I don't… stay away from me! You can't take me! Oh god… oh god… please…please…doesn't hurt me."

Chief calmly grabbed the Marine by his shoulders, and reassured him," Relax, you're with friends now. What happened?"

"No no no I can't trust you! I can't trust anybody, they…they'll turn all of us into them!" The crazed marine shook himself from the chief's grasp, and shot a bullet, which pinged off the Chief's shields.

Chief shook back, and advanced towards the Marine, grabbing his pistol, and strapping it onto his belt, as well as grabbing the Marine, forcing him onto his feet. The hapless man shook, and started rambling incoherent things about death, and 'them'. It was clear he wasn't going to move, so we decided we were going to come back for him. In the clearing between the doors, I turned to look at the man, still shaking and white-faced. As the door closed shut, I heard him scream, a blood-curdling one, as he yelled loudly. The weird buzzing occurred again, as well as an odd sloshing noise. The chilling sound returned en masse this time, almost like an undead orchestra had come from behind the door. Our motion sensors went ballistic, with contacts appearing from everywhere. Chief and I tried to force our way through, but to no avail. The Marines screams suddenly cut out, and the droning stopped. The door hissed open, and he was _gone_, with a large bloodstain where he used to be.

"Chief, what the hell just happened?" I asked.

" I don't know." Chief, after a second of hesitation, replied.

When the supercomputer had no idea what happened, that's not a good sign. We continued pressing on regardless, and finally met a door, with another code-breaker. Tapping a few commands on it, the door hissed open…

And a mangled marine corpse landed on me. Catching it, I slowly lowered him to the ground, as Chief strode through the door. I grabbed his helmet, and his dog tags. A private Jenkins as it was, and his helmet was recording, maybe we could solve the mystery of what'd happened here.

"Chief, come take a look at this! I got a video recording!" I called him.

"Come take a look at this first." Was the answer I got? What could have been more important than a video recording?

I got my answer. Shell casings, strewn all over the floor like a weird carpet. There wasn't a single inch of the floor not covered in the bullets, and yet not a single drop of blood, just an odd brown liquid muck. It was yet another thing to add to the growing mystery, as I passed the helmet over to Chief, and he took out the recording. Playing it over both our HUD's, we could finally see what happened.

It carried all the characteristics of a Marine's helmet cam. It was standard definition, shaking camera, and the all important time stamp, which was dated at an hour before our coming across him. A platoon of Marines, including the Captain, and the black Sergeant who we'd come across in our landing arrived, and they pushed into the structure, seeing the Phantom that Chief and I came across around an hour earlier. Downwards, they took a different path, but ended up in the same room we were in now. The weird sloshing sound returning, a Marine complained of a bad feeling, before disgusting, fearful monsters came out of places unknown, and swarmed them. A tiny pod hopped onto the camera, and there was no more.

We both finished the recording, and looked at each other. We were clearly thinking the same things. Where were the monsters now? A blood-curdling scream, as hundreds of pods jumped from the overhanging pipes, and the battle began.

Opening up with my Assault Rifle, I could take out the small pods with a single bullet, but there was just so _many _of them. A larger form walked, or crawled towards me, a grotesque creature. But when it got closer, I finally realized what it was, amidst the battle.

A human, twisted to a hideous form, looking nothing like an actual person. The only tell were the dog tags hanging from his torso. I wasted no chances, butting it in the head with my Assault Rifle, and putting a burst into it. A small pod hopped into it, and it got back up again. My feeling of panic intensifying, I swapped to my shotgun, instead blowing the creature apart.

"Chief, we have to move!" I yelled, stomping a couple of the pods as I slowly pressed back, firing my shotgun as I did so.

"Not a bad idea, try and find an open door!" He wasn't having much fun either, as he also resorted to using a shotgun, blowing large numbers of the pods up. A human form jumped down, and slammed into Chief, pinning him to the floor. It raised its 'hand', getting ready to pummel him, before I knocked him off, and stomped on him. The weight of my MJOLNIR crushed its chest, and I fired a shotgun round, just to be sure. Pulling out my Assault rifle in one hand, and sheathing my shotgun, I pulled Chief up as I continued firing, not letting up on the tiny pods trying to overwhelm us.

"Over there! I found one open!" Chief yelled over the gunfire, and deathly noises coming from the things that were chasing us. We charged through it, and the door shut. My heart beat like a drum, and I took a second to regain my normal breathing. In all my training as a Spartan, I'd never faced something like that before.

"You…that…what…was that?" I spoke in between breaths.

"I…don't know. This place has too many surprises." Chief replied, his voice carrying a small tone of worry.

"We now know what became of the Captain though. We need to get to Silva, tell him about what happened." I told Chief, who nodded.

"Now, how do we get out of here?" I asked myself. Like clockwork, a door hissed open, leading to a hallway filled with the infected forms, which came stampeding in. I emptied a shotgun round into one infected marine, which practically blew up from the impact, spraying bits of matter and broken bone everywhere. Turning to the right, I killed three more with my Shotgun before reloading. Chief had killed his share as well, and we were clear for the time being.

Looking at the inside of one of the bodies, I saw a tiny infection form hop out, then burst, courtesy of Chief's MA5.

"They must reanimate the dead, that's how they have all these damn bodies, they take our dead, and turn them into those…things!" I finally understood.

Chief looked at the bodies, then said," We'd better destroy them, make sure those…pods cant reanimate the dead."

I agreed, and we stepped on the bodies, breaking them apart. Hopefully that would work I thought, as we continued onwards.

"You know how to get out of here?" Chief turned to me, asking.

"No, damn where is Cortana when you need her?" I replied, nervously. We continued forwards, hoping where we were going was a path towards escaping. Taking several steps forward, I was about to take a step forward when my motion sensor went mad- hostile central right in front of me. Chief grabbed my, and pulled me back.

An infection form ambled by, completely unaware of us, and I recognized the long angular face of an Elite. The reason we didn't open fire, was in pure shock of seeing what happened to it. Its skull was pivoted at a sickening angle, like the bones of its neck were melted, or broken and rearranged by someone with an incomplete knowledge of the human body. Its head lay behind its back, limply, almost not attached. It looked like a limb that needed amputation.

It looked like something had gone into the Elite, and completely rearranged it. a trill of fear hit me, something I wasn't accustomed to. I tried to resist the urge to vomit, as it slowly walked past us.

"Chief, if I ever show a hint of becoming like that, shoot me in the head."

"Same for me Will. Christ, you think they're all over this ring?"

"I don't know, but I don't want to find out."

Once it was out of sight, Chief raised his hand, counting from 3. When he put down his third finger, we both burst from our position, crushing a handful of the spherical creatures. Our shotguns rang in harmony, spattering the walls and the floor with blood and bone matter. One jumped and landed next to Chief. He kneed it in the supposed chest, slamming it upwards, and onto the floor. I killed it. While it was clear for a second, I noticed an elevator.

"Chief, elevator, lets go!" I yelled amidst the fire and explosions.

He rushed into it, and I followed. I left a small present for them, leaving a grenade primed on the ground. A boom, and the lift whooshed upwards, so hard that my ears popped.

The next room, hopefully the way upwards, carried all the charm of a crypt. A narrow hallway with a corner was in front of us. We walked there, and came across something I'd never want to see again.

It was a human private, whom Chief clearly recognized, and I realized he was the Marine Sergeant Johnson yelled at on our arrival to the ring world, Mendoza. His body was ravaged, but his face, his face was still carrying a semblance of humanity, which led the both of us to put our finger away from the trigger, trying to make contact.

"Mendoza, we need to get you to the medics, they can get you back to what you used to be, just come with us. I know they did something to you but, you need to come with us."

We were answered by an otherworldly cry, as what remained of Mendoza charged at us, waving his tentacle like a whip, pushing my to the side, and draining a quarter of my shields. Chief pumped a round into it, and the remnants of Mendoza exploded, leaving nothing but a small pod, which after one shotgun round from me served to destroy that as well. Feeding shells into our Shotguns, and checking ammo for our Assault Rifles, we moved as fast as we could upwards.

We were clear for the next room and hallway leading upwards, and out of the hellhole, but not for the room after the hallway. Opening it, a bunch of infection forms turned around, and charged at me. I dropped a grenade, and dove back into the hallway, waiting for the resounding boom. It came, and I went back through the door, only to find more coming. I swapped to my Assault rifle, spraying the lot of them, and putting down some, while Chief waited with his shotgun, killing any which came too close. One came through, wielding an UNSC M9 SMG. It opened fire, and the small bullets pinged off my shields, draining them to half and forcing me back. Bastards had weapons, but now was the first time I'd seen them use them effectively. Chief silenced it with a bullet to the face. Zombies were scary enough, but with guns? Much, much worse. I clipped the SMG to my belt, made no sense to leave it there, and continued onwards. It might to well when they started rushing, and my Shotgun was out of ammo. We reloaded all our weapons, and continued on.

The next hallway brought more bedlam, with a hell of a lot of pods, and several Elite-forms. However, they were already fighting. A platoon of the Covenant, two Elites and jackals were skirmishing with them. we hung back, and let them try and finish each other off. It didn't work, as one of the Elites, a crimson armored one noticed us. we hopped into the fray. I took the Covenant, Chief took the uglies. I threw a plasma grenade immediately, latching it onto an Elite. He warbled in surprise, then vanished in an explosive puff. Spinning to my right, I caught the jackal overcharging a pistol shot. Absorbing one bolt from his friend, which drained my shields a quarter, I grabbed the Jackal by the throat, and threw him towards the parasites. Chief, saw the Jackal coming and stepped aside. I pivoted backwards, and pulled out my combat knife, slashing and trying to find an opening in the Jackal's shields. It moved back quickly, garbling in a reptilian tongue, and continued this way until I simply pulled up my SMG and killed him with a quick burst. Turning to look at Chief, he was simply polishing up.

One level up, we met the same trouble, only this time there was one new form. A large, bulbous thing, it waddled towards us. I fired a burst into it, and it toppled. Didn't seem too dangerous, until its corpse exploded, throwing dozens of the small pods at us. I began stomping at the little buggers, watching them pop. Had it not been for our MJOLNIR, we would have been toast. The pods would pop against us, draining our shields, but anything was better than ending up like one of them. Several more came, flanked by an elite infection form, which had energy shields. I threw a grenade over to their location, which blew the carrier-thing apart, and dissipated the shields of the elite-form. I then vaulted over to its location, shooting other pods with my Assault Rifle until its clip ran out, then swapped to my SMG. I slammed it into its 'gut' and carried it upwards, emptying all my rounds as I did so. The force of around 60 bullets ramming into a body made the elite-form simply breakdown, and crumple like wet tissue. Chief shot down one, and then looked at me. He simply said," Flashy." I did the Spartan signal for a smile, and waited for him to come to my position. We stopped, grabbed dog-tags from the human combat forms, and moved on.

"We're getting close to an exit, I can hear the faint sounds of the swamp." Chief said as he walked over.

"Right, that's good, can't wait till we-Look out!" I pushed Chief out of the way, as a plasma grenade came sailing from the place we came. The grenade zoomed between both of us, detonating harmlessly against a wall. The infection forms numbering in the dozens were charging at us, opening fire at us as they did so. I pulled a plasma grenade from my belt, and threw it. My aim true, I fused it to a carrier, which blew up, taking several along with it. There were much more however, and they just kept coming. With no choice, we decided to run at full sprint.

Ten minutes of running later, we reached the top. We could hear the moans and groans of them as they worked their way up.

"We can't let them get out of this structure. We stop them here," Chief solemnly said to me. It seemed impossible, with just two people. "How many clips you got? I got 5 for the Assault rifle, and around 30 rounds for the shotgun. 4 grenades each."

"180 bullets for the SMG, same for the rest." I replied, as I got ready for the impending battle.

As we waited, we heard the moans, groans, and _gunfire? _All of a sudden, yelling, and the sounds of Marines were heard, as we saw a squad of five marines run up to the top with us. I looked at them, and they looked at me. Without a word, they turned, and got ready to fight. Some things just don't need words to be spoken. They knew their duty.

With two Spartans, it would be near impossible, but two Spartans and an extra 5 people, it was much easier to handle around the 50 forms that came charging up to the exit. There were 2 marines who hefted SAW's. Grenades, rifles, and shotguns were used all together as we formed a makeshift wall. 2 at the back, spraying with their SAWs, Chief and I up front, using our shotguns to great effect, and the final three forming a circle, using both battle rifles and shotguns to repel the escapees.

Several humans charged up at us, and we both emptied a round into them, sending them tumbling back down the slope leading to the exit. They began to get up, but were sent back down by nice headshots from the Marines. It went mostly like this, rinsing and repeating. They would charge up, and be pushed back down, either dead or close to it, and be finished off by the BR's. the 3 round burst proved well for the parasites, as they provided an effective 1, 2, 3 punch which to the head served to pop the infection form within the body. The 2 behind at the back would assist in suppressing fire, showing the infection that there was a reason the squad automatic weapon was called a SAW.

I ran out of ammo for my shotgun, and a Marine pulled out his ammo belt, handing it to me. I nodded, and began reloading. The parasites continued pushing, trying to kill us badly. A Marine used his SAW to good effect, killing most of the combat forms, and pushing some of them back. One got a bit too close for comfort, before it was blown apart by Chief's shotgun. I finished reloading, and with a powerful 'chuck', I got ready to fight. One, two, three, four, we fell into a rhythm, systematically killing them all. When things got too hot, we would stand back, dropping a grenade to kill most of the runners, before moving back in to finish off the rest.

With a grenade exploding and killing the last infection form, it brought the frantic firefight to an end.

I turned to the Marines, starting to ask how they'd escaped, but they seemed to read my mind." We were part of the scout team, Pelican shot down when we were taking off. It was the Covenant. They killed some of our men, but we forced them into the structure. We went in, and got lost. Then we saw those things… lost more men, but we managed to hold out." A PFC named Ian Shaw told us.

"How many did you start with?" I asked, scared to know the answer.

"We started with 20. And sirs? I suggest we get out of here. " Shaw replied, his voice laced with concern.

Chief took the reins and replied, " That's command thinking."

It felt very, very good to get out of the swamp, very good indeed.

(A/N: if you read mass effect 3's masses to masses, you'll see the reference I put in. Anyways tell me if you like the history of Six, and his origin. If you like it I will elaborate about how he trained and more!

Unedited, my beta isn't responding to me, so I apologize for any mistakes. Also if you offer your services they would be dearly appreciated.)


	10. The Library

**The Library**

After spending what felt like hours within the structure filled with the parasites, entering the sordid, soaking wet swamp felt like a glorious reprieve. The Marines couldn't hide the look of relief on their faces, and I'm sure that had Chief and I not had helmets on, we'd have had the same look on our faces. It was, in a word, paralyzing to see what used to be humans, hell even the Covenant turned to something so disgusting and grotesque. I hoped to hell I'd never see them anymore. Considering my strings of bad and good luck, I probably would meet them again.

Chief opened a link to Foehammer, hoping she'd be able to pick us up.

"Foehammer, its Chief, we need a pickup, we got a squad of 5 Marines as well."

"Allright Chief, I'm on my way. Did you find Keyes?" Foehammer asked.

"Keyes is missing, and he may be KIA. We don't know." Chief answered, a tone of solemnity in his voice.

"I'm sorry to hear that. There's a large tower above the fog and foliage some hundred meters from your position, if you get your way up there, I can move in and get you."

"Affirmative, thanks Foehammer." Chief ended the connection.

"Will, you get that?" Chief turned to me.

"Every word. Marines! Follow the Chief and I to the tower over there, we'll get you boys back." I turned to the Marines, who livened up when they heard the prospect of getting away from here. They forged ahead, despite our warnings to slow down and be careful. I sighed, but understood their eagerness to get back to base. The top of the tower covered in mist, I looked for an opening. Suddenly, I heard one of the Marines yell," Contact! Left side! Left side!" Then the sound of a SAW emptying its magazine at full auto was heard. Red dots appeared, the small pods came out of the mist like monsters in a fairy tale, and Chief and I came immediately to the realization that any hope of containing the creatures underground had been lost. We needed to warn Alpha Base, and get the hell out.

Keeping calm, we fired short bursts from our Rifles, popping most of the pods before they got to us. I turned to face a combat form wielding a plasma pistol, but it chose not to use it, throwing itself forward. One hand-wielding the shotgun, I pressed the barrel on its 'chest'. Cracking open like a flower, it exploded into pieces.

We continued suppressing the small pod forms, and static began washing over the speakers within our helmets. Our communications gear tried to clear the buzz, but to no avail. It probably was Foehammer, but there was no way to be sure. The flooding wave of the parasites suddenly turned off like a switch had been hit. And we all got time to catch our collective breaths. Seven exotic cylinder-like machines drifted from the fog to float over where we were holding out. One leatherneck raised his weapon before Chief raised a cautionary hand. "One sec, let's see if they're friend or foe before we actually open fire, don't want to make more enemies here."

What happened next was like a gift from the heavens. The machine shot a laser, or a beam of energy. Whatever it was, it smacked into a sneaking hostile combat form, burning it to a crisp. The other combat forms looked up, and tried to return fire, but they were soon put out of action by our apparent newfound allies.

We continued opening fire, but they just kept coming. A marine in our squad ran out of ammo for his SAW, and swapped to his pistol. I ran over to him but a stray plasma bolt hit him right between the shoulder blades. His armor smoking, he crumpled to the ground. I turned quickly to the right and caught the culprit, tagging him and smoking the bastard with a burst from my Assault Rifle. I put a couple more rounds into its 'dead' body. It wouldn't save that man, but it felt good doing it. I turned back, and saw the Marine choking blood, and pale. He looked at me, and laughed. Grasping my armored hand, he looked into my faceplate. "We both know I'm not going to make it. Take my dog-tags, and give this letter to my wife and kids." He said it, without a second of hesitation or fear, and he simply closed his eyes. I kneeled there for a second, amidst the gunfire, and choked screams of the Marines when they saw him lying there. I didn't know what I was supposed to do.

Chief had managed to repel the infections for the time being, and he turned towards us, noticing the dead Marine.

"I'm sorry, but you need to honor his memory. Get off this ring, and survive. That's what he'd have wanted." He said to the remaining Marines, who nodded, and wiped the smallest inklings of tears from their eyes. Chief looked at me, and nodded. He'd been through this before. I grabbed his letter, and his dog tags, storing them safely. _Another dead hero_.

The tower in full view, we climbed up the supporting struts, exchanging fire with the infection as they crawled upwards, trying to pull us down. One grabbed on to my leg, and I tried to shake him off, but the thing had a superhuman grip. However, it suddenly released, falling off with holes in its side. A marine held a pistol in one hand, and saluted with the other. We continued our climb upwards till we reached the top. It was like a plateau, with intersecting fields of fire, and a good view over the fog. Hopefully this would hold the parasites off. I tried my radio again, but got only static. Chief was doing the same, till we heard something behind us. Not the deathly groan of the infection, or the bang of an Assault Rifle, but _humming. _

We both turned, weapons drawn, to come face to face with yet another machine. Unlike the wing-like cylinder things, which had come to our aid minutes before, this was spherical, like a ball. Its inside was glowing, and it had a singular eye. It had a cheerful attitude as it spoke to us.

"Greetings! I am 343 Guilty Spark, the monitor of installation 04; I see someone has released the flood. I require your assistance for immediate containment."

Clearly some kind of forerunner construct from its design, and the fact that it carried the same silver paint job all the other structures had only served to help my hypothesis. Above the diminutive machine, was Foehammer's Pelican getting closer.

Chief tried to sound friendly, as he asked. "Wait, those things, are called flood? Is that what you're talking about?"

"Of course Reclaimers, come with me" the little thing replied in its cheery voice, with a hint of confusion infused.

We both thought the same thing, '_Reclaimer'_? I was about to ask whether he meant me, when white rings of light pulsated around us, then exploded in a blinding light.

I felt like a puzzle piece getting reassembled back together, as I came to my senses, but I had no idea where I was. A quick look around told me several things. Chief was with me, not a bad sign, we were in a dark, brooding structure, a bad sign, and the goddamn machine which got us here was humming over us, glowing a shimmering bright blue. I felt like I was going to puke, and thanked the eggheads at R&D for creating a waste disposal system from within the helmet. Chief looked to be in the same state, and after both of us had gotten somewhat reoriented, He raised his Assault Rifle, about to fire at Guilty Spark. I pushed the weapon down, and told him to relax. He clearly wasn't a threat, but it was time to ask questions. Chief looked at me for a second, in slight annoyance, then calmed down. Truth be told I was mad too, but it wouldn't really help.

"Uh, sparky? Why the hell didn't you tell us you were going to use teleportation to bring us here, and where the hell are we?" I said, annoyed.

"This installation was specifically built to study and contain the Flood," The little machine answered patiently." Their survival as a race was dependent on it. I am glad to see some of them managed to reproduce."

Chief demanded," Wait, 'survive'? 'Reproduce'? What the hell are you talking about?"

Guilty Spark ignored the question, saying," We must collect the Index, time is of the essence. Please follow me Reclaimers. In the midst of the darkness, the light blue orb zoomed away. We both had no choice but to follow. Checking our mags, we both still had an ample amount of ammo. Chief looked back upwards to Spark," Speaking of _you,_ what are you, and what's your function?"

"I am 343 Guilty Spark," The orb replied, tiredly. "I am the Monitor, or more precisely, a self-repairing artificial intelligence charged with maintaining and operating this facility. Both of you being Reclaimers, you should already know that."

We both had no idea, but it did seem prudent to play along at the time, so we did. I replied to Guilty Spark," Yes, I do know as the Reclaimer of course! But refresh my memory please… how long has it been since you were left in charge?" I heard Chief chuckle softly from his helmet. Guilty Spark didn't hear as he replied," Exactly 101,217 local years, 10 months, 9 days, 8 hours, 3 minutes, and 50 seconds and counting," The monitor cheerfully replied," many of which were rather, and quite boring. But not anymore! Hee, hee, hee!"

We both stopped in our tracks, taken aback by the giggle from the Monitor. I looked at Chief, whispering." Did the sentient machine just giggle?"

"Yeah, I think so. AI's do develop certain quirks, I mean look at Cortana, and she's a bit odd as well. They will get personalities you know." Chief whispered back.

"This guy has been here for a hundred thousand years Chief! Its quite possible this little guy," I flicked a finger unnoticeably towards Guilty Spark." Is slightly insane."

"You know what, I don't think we have a choice at this point, this guys our only chance to get out of here."

"You want to trust an insane AI be my guest, but I'm taking what this guy says with a grain of salt…"

While we continued our little conversation about insane AI's and trust issues, the Monitor chattered on about 'repairs to substation 9' and other forms of things that I could never dream of understanding.

His dialogue was interrupted, as a bunch of infection, wait, and 'Flood' combat forms rushed out from the surrounding blackness. We both stopped talking immediately, and found ourselves fighting for our lives yet again. I rolled a grenade and fell back, watching as the Flood ran in front; only to be blew apart immediately. The stragglers we finished off with Shotguns.

Like water turned off a tap, the flow of the Flood stopped quickly. I reloaded my weapons, as the Monitor above us continued humming, whistling, and giggling." No time to dawdle Reclaimers! Work must be done!"

Sighing, I asked," What kind of work?" as I reloaded, popping my last shotgun shell into the chamber and we hurried to follow.

Stopping in mid air, Guilty Spark replied," This, Reclaimers, would be the library, and the energy field above us contains the index, please follow me."

I was about to ask what the 'Index' was, before a combat form; an Elite to be exact lurched out from an above alcove, opening fire. Too far away for my shotgun, I swapped to my Assault Rifle, allowing my shields to absorb the shots. I took off both of its legs, thinking to myself," That should slow you down." As I turned towards the horde, Chief was already facing them, throwing a plasma grenade, the resulting detonation killing half of them. I helped him take out the stranglers, until I was pulled to the floor. Hitting the ground, I turned and saw that the legless combat form was waddling at me. I blew its head off this time, and then strafed backwards to avoid a walking carrier form, which Chief killed. The resulting explosion caused us to spend around 10 seconds popping pods.

The monitor had stopped to observe us fight then hovered onwards after we were finished, forcing us to follow him. We soon arrived at a shiny metal door, perhaps built to contain the Flood. It stared intently at the door for a couple of seconds, and then turned to us.

"The security doors have sealed automatically. I will go access the override to open them. Please wait here." Guilty Spark hummed to us, before flying away.

"Right, wait here, because where else are we going to go?" I said to Chief. He said nothing, but I could tell he was laughing. Right as I finished that sentence, several Combat forms followed by Carrier forms lurched into view, and we entered into battle. I slung my shotgun, opting for my Assault Rifle this time. I fired a burst into two combat forms, which dropped quickly under my fire. Switching around, I shot a round right onto a carrier's leg. It hit the floor and exploded, killing two more, but releasing dozens of pods. Chief continued using his shotgun, its pellets good for bursting large numbers of the pods. Several rounds later, and 5 mangled Flood lay on the ground, their bodies smoking. I killed the last carrier and its small pods within, and like clockwork the Monitor came back.

"Please follow closely. This portal is the first of ten."

This was going to be a long night.

As we walked through the door, three of the machines that assisted us earlier came out from small holes in the sides, glowing a fluorescent blue.

Guilty Spark informed us," These three sentinels will assist you in improving your combat skill. Speaking of combat, both of you will require an immediate upgrade in your combat skin, at least to a class fourteen. Both of you only have a class two."

I'm sure both of us thought the same thing: _if there actually is a armor that's 7 times more powerful that the MJOLNIR we have now, pencil me in for first in line._

As we continued to walk along this large hallway, we came across a human body, this one untainted by the Flood. Sadly, his body was very mangled and twisted, it seemed that the Flood couldn't even make use of him. No way he could have come here on his own, I thought, and my suspicions were confirmed as the monitor hovered over the body.

"I brought him here as well, his combat skin was even worse than yours."

Chief kneeled on one knee, grabbing his dog tags, and saluting the Marine. He handed me the dog tags.

"His name was Staff Sergeant Marvin Mobuto. Did you know him?" Chief asked me.

"Mobuto? This guy was UNSC Special Forces, how did he get transferred to the Marine Corps." I replied, astonished and sad at the same time to see someone I knew dead.

"So you know him?" He continued.

"Yeah, my UNSC 'contractor' often had me work with Special Forces to take out major insurrectionist bases and leaders. You know the death of Floyd Wilson? We did that."

"He was a famous insurrectionist leader, I read about it when I was waiting for missions. He helped you?"

"Yeah, Mobuto was a great soldier. Everything changed when the Covenant hit though."

We said nothing after that, continuing onwards. I stopped before his body, respectfully nodding. He was a tough bastard, able to come this far, even without special armor or abilities. With them, Chief and I were already having a tough time. How he was only a Sergeant was an interesting story, but not for a time like this, as we continued on.

Meeting yet another locked door, the Monitor happily told us to stay here, before floating yet again into the abyss. We turned around to see a myriad of Flood coming our way, screaming for blood and bedlam. Out of grenades, I swapped to my Shotgun, and we took them at close range. One combat form managed to land an overcharged pistol shot into my gut, forcing me back, as Chief took up the slack. He hit one in the face with the butt of his shotgun, finishing it off with one shotgun pellet, before turning to blast two more before I re-entered the battle. I blew a couple of their brains out, pumping round after round into the endless tide of enemies. The sentinels hovered above us, trying their best to laser some of the Flood back, successful in turning half a dozen of them into mush. Suddenly, they retreated, slithering back into the darkness.

Meanwhile, the monitor had come back, giggling, "I am a genius!"

Chief muttered softly so only I could hear. "A pain in the ass is more like it."

The door hummed open, and we continued on. Guilty Spark and his Sentinels vanished yet again, leaving the Flood and us. They hadn't noticed us, sweeping the room with machine-like precision. Lucky they hadn't gotten to us yet, as we quickly shimmied up a pillar. On 3, we jumped down, landing on 2 combat forms, squishing them to a pulp under our boots. Cutting a scythe of bullets with our assault rifles, taking them out in what seemed like a chain reaction, as more fell.

Amidst the fire, I yelled to Chief," That got their attention eh?" He looked at me quickly, shook his head and turned away. Guess he still wasn't used to my deadpan remarks during engagements.

Chief pulled himself back up to a raised position, providing suppressing fire, as I charged forward with my shotgun. Boom, one fell, its corpse smoking. Boom, another fell, missing several of its body parts, and soon enough, the last one fell. Carrying nothing but frustration with them for constantly leading us around without telling us to go anywhere, but with nothing to show for it, I simply crushed a dead Flood combat form under my boot.

We followed them onto a lift, which took us high upwards. After no more than 3 or 4 steps, we were met yet again by the Flood. I emptied a burst into one, and it crumpled like paper as it hit the deck. Chief tossed a plasma grenade to the back of their ranks, which detonated, turning the area into a gory mess. A combat form slapped its tendril-arms into my faceplate, staggering me backwards. Chief butted it with its rifle, before delivering the finishing blow with a couple rounds to the 'head'.

The last combat form jumped onto a Sentinel, pulling it down, before they both exploded in gouts of flame, blood, bone, and brimstone. Following this, we stepped onto a lift, but this one was different. Geometric patterns lined the floors, raised panels held within them translucent blue light, and everything glowed with a blue luminesce.

Ancient machinery unknown to us began whirring, and the lift cranked forward at and alarming speed, causing Chief and I to stagger on our feet, while Guilty Spark and his Monitors watched, amused.

"Hopefully we're close to the end." I said to Chief, regaining my footing, and slapping a fresh clip and rounds into my Shotgun, in preparation for the inevitable onslaught of the flood.

As the lift stopped, we headed off towards the pedestal up front. Surrounded by a chasm of emptiness, it stood unsupported like an open defiance to gravity. On top of it, a cylindrical tube, with a T-shaped artifact glowing encased within it. Metal blocks circling the device rotating and spinning, like a safeguard as we approached.

"You must retrieve the Index Reclaimers." The Monitor told us, but now with a sense of urgency unheard of from his usual 'calm' banter.

"Yes, yes, but how?" I quipped to the Monitor, who had no reply for me. I looked to Chief, who simply extended his hand.

"Y'know, if you told me one day I'd be holding hands with a Spartan, grabbing an alien artifact to save the world, I wouldn't have believed you." I said to Chief, extending my hands out as far as possible to grab it.

"Focus Will, and yes no one would believe you." Chief replied, managing to both is serious and joking at the same time. I reached out a bit more, and grabbed it. With a grunt, he pulled me back to safety. I clapped my hands on his back, and nodded in appreciation.

I looked at it, and was about to hand it to Chief- The Index was ripped from my hand, and went into a storage chamber somewhere within the Monitor.

"What the hell are you doing?" I yelled at Guilty Spark, clearly annoyed.

"Protocol dictates I take control of the artifact for transport Reclaimer," It replied condescendingly, which Chief and I did not appreciate, looking at each other first, before turning back.

"The flood is spreading, we must hurry!" Guilty Spark said as he swopped into place. " Your biological form renders you vulnerable to infection. The Index must not fall into the hands of the Flood before we reach the Control room and activate the installation. I will transport you now."

And before we could say how, bands of pulsating light flowed up and around our body, and I felt like I was about to vomit again.

Reappearing back at the Control Room where we'd left Cortana, I looked at Chief, and then quickly turned away. Thank God for waste disposal systems. Turning back, I could see from Chief's body language that he was clearly worried about Cortana, and where she was.

Guilty Spark may have gotten that as well, as he inquired," Is something wrong?"

Chief hesitated a microsecond, replying." No, nothing at all."

"Very well."

Making our way forward, the Control board was long and curved at each end. An endless kaleidoscope of lights danced across the surface of the panel, as various parts of the ring's machinery fed data to the display, all of which appeared as an abstract blend of morphing glyphs and symbols. Just looking at it hurt my eyes. Guilty Spark explained all this to us, but I could tell both of us weren't listening.

The monitor zipped around the area, then stopped in front of us.

" My role in this has ended, you must take the next step, Reclaimers."

" Why do you keep calling us that? " We both replied, but Spark kept silent.

Shrugging, I let Chief take the reins, as the Spartan slid the Index home to a slot.

The control panel shuddered, then suddenly overloaded, and you could hear the machinery groaning in response. Guilty spark tilted his head like a dog.

"That wasn't supposed to happen." Spark chirped.

A shimmer of light suddenly came into view, as Cortana's figure exploded over the control panel. Her eyes bright pink, data scrolling across her body, and you didn't need to hear her voice to see that she was very, very pissed off.

"Oh Really?" She waved, and the Monitor hit the floor with a metallic clank.

Chief, clearly relieved, started," Cortana I-"

The AI shushed him with a wave of the hand, and put her hands on her hips." I spent hours in here watching you two screw about helping that… thing get set to stab us in the back!"

Chief calmly replied," Cortana please relax, he's a friend."

She sarcastically put a hand to her mouth, feigning surprise. " Oh! I didn't know! You three are just like the three musketeers. Do you have any idea what the son of a bitch almost made you do?"

Chief again calmly stated," Yeah, activate Halo, use it to destroy the Flood."

Cortana grabbed the Index out of its slot, yelling in fury," You used this didn't you!"

343 Guilty Spark reanimated with a whirr, and shot upwards off the floor, furious." A construct in the core, that is absolutely unacceptable!"

Cortana's eyes narrowed, also glowing in red rage. " Screw off."

The Monitor shot up even higher. " Impertinence! I shall purge you of your databanks at once."

"You sure that's a good idea light bulb?" Cortana inquired as she waved the Index, before visibly placing it within her, adding the data into her memory.

Chief decided now was the time to intervene, stepping in between them, and holding both his hands up. "Enough! The Flood is spreading, and if we activate its defenses, we can wipe them out!"

I looked upon the scene, and it almost looked like something out of a comedy, but the stakes were too high. Cortana's voice noticeably softened towards Chief, as she told him." Chief, Halo doesn't kill Flood, it kills their food. It wipes the galaxy clear of all sentient life, and that's the only way to kill the Flood, starvation! Don't believe me? Ask him!" She pointed at Guilty Spark.

Spark bobbed up and down, before replying directly." Of course, this installation has a maximum radius of five thousand light year, but once the others follow, the galaxy will be devoid of life, didn't you already know this Reclaimer?" Guilty spark finished, with a puzzled tone.

Cortana simply glowered at the two of us. But I realized something Guilty Spark said that raised a huge red flag. 'Others follow?' That meant there were more Halo rings. Considering all the crap that we went through here, god only knows what would happen on the others.

343 Guilty Spark's voice carried an angry tone now," We followed containment procedure to the letter, you were with me each step, why would you hesitate now?"

Cortana interrupted his monologue. "Boys, I'm picking up movement-" I looked at Chief, and nodded at him. He took this as a message to get out.

Spark continued on again," if you are unwilling to help, I will find another. Give your construct to me, or I will be forced to remove it from you."

I grabbed Cortana, and handed it to Chief.

"Chief, we gotta go, now."

"Will is right, we need to go. NOW." Cortana said, her inflection of worry clearly shown here.

Chief looked upwards, and said," If you want to get her, you're going to have to get past us."

Spark replied wearily, then addressed his sentinels." So be it. Save his head. Dispose of the rest."

I laughed, and just before the Sentinels began opening fire, I said to Chief.

"If you're going to die, might as well die on a one-liner."

**(Unedited, so I did my best to find the mistakes. Review please; it really warms the heart to see those emails. I had this chapter waiting in the wings a while, as it was a pain to write. If it seems rushed, well, it kind of was. Thank you for reading, and favorite, follow and all that jazz.)**


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